The Patriot Experiment
by combativeAdjutor
Summary: When Alfred F. Jones, a teenager, died of a terminal disease, his body was donated to a scientific research group working on a study called "The Patriot Experiment". No one expected him to wake up 5 days later, or did they? USUK and other pairings.
1. A Beginning

On June 29, 2011, teenager Alfred F. Jones was pronounced dead from a terminal disease. His body was donated by his father Dr. Samuel R. Jones to the Seattle Washington Institute of Human Studies Science Division.

On July 4, 2011, Alfred F. Jones woke up.

All that he saw was a bright white light shining into his eyes. He tried to move his hand to block the light, but couldn't. He felt himself lying on a cold surface, like a metal table or something of the sort. He strained his ears for the sounds of human life but heard nothing except the hum of machinery.

Where was he? The last thing that he remembered was his mother sitting next to his bed at the hospital, clasping his hand and crying for his son. Was that where he was; the hospital? Had he fallen asleep only to wake up in surgery? But no one had told him that any surgery's had been scheduled. No one had told him anything for the past week; the nurses only gave him sad looks as they passed by. And the idea in itself was ridiculous in itself because if he was in surgery, there would be doctors and surgeons and whatnot around, actually doing the surgery.

He heard his stomach growl and felt how dry his mouth was. He wondered if a nurse would walk in sometime soon to walk him back to his hospital room and bring him some lunch-preferably a hamburger-and a nice tall glass of water, or coke, whatever was easier.

"Is anyone there?" he called out, his voice sounded raspy, forced out through a dry throat. "Hello?" he tried again.

It was then that he heard footsteps. They were muffled, like they were on the other side of a door, but there were several of them, like multiple pairs of feet. He heard a click, like a lock being opened, and a doorknob being turned. Someone opened the door and he heard a woman's voice, one with a distinct accent that he couldn't place at that moment, talking to the others assembled.

"We will now begin the autopsy on number 43920, he has been injected with various-" the woman stopped talking when she reached the place where Alfred lay. She was watching him, a cold looking woman with blonde hair swept into a neat bun and her light blue eyes wide with surprise. Her shocked expression grew when he smiled at her, not knowing what else to do in such a situation.

She stumbled backwards a few steps, both hands pressed to her heart as she lets the clipboard she had been holding clatter to the ground, the papers scattering on the floor in a wave.

"Professor Patriachova, what's the matter?" a man in a lab coat asked, walking up to her.

"The boy, he's alive!" she gasped out. The man looked at him and their eyes met. Alfred's shone with confusion.

"What's going on?" he asked. He heard gasps and even a scream throughout the room.

"I will call Dr. Huntlman and Dr. Jones!" another man said, hurrying out of the room.

Soon after, the man came back with two more men behind him. By this time, Alfred was sitting upright on the table he had been laying on and had a blanket wrapped around him, since he had been completely nude before. One of the men Alfred recognized right away.

"Dad!" he said, waving his arm somewhat sluggishly. He hadn't eaten in quite a few days so it was hard for him to move his limbs. His father looked at him and Alfred smiled. He was surprised when he met his father's eyes for all he saw was repulsion, disgust, and fear.

The smile slipped off of Alfred's face at the look in his father's eyes, all that remained was confusion as his father looked at the other doctor that had walked in with him, Dr. Huntlman, and said "Call the emergency number printed at the bottom of the Patriot Experiment plan sheet and tell them that there is another one."

Then, he walked out of the room.


	2. Cops and Robbers

**AN: I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN I SAW THE REVIEWS THAT I HAD GOTTEN! I was literally shaking. XD My friend asked me if something was wrong. You guys are the best! I was going to have with up earlier, but I had stuff to do and things to write, like the oneshots that I wrote for Canada and America's birthdays! Well anywaym here is the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, I wouldn't be posting a story on fanfiction, would I? So Hetalia doesn't belong to me, but this plot does!  
>OoOoOoOoO<strong>

Alfred found himself being carted onto a windowless white van wearing secondhand clothing an hour later. All of the people in white lab coats walked around nervously, refusing to look at him and replying to all of his questions with "it will all be explained once you get there".

From what he saw of the place he knew he wasn't at the hospital anymore. It looked more like a military compound than anything scientific. The building was low and was colored a dingy beige, but Alfred already knew that most of it was underground, where everything was sterile white and metal. The Institute had a large garage filled with vans and busses and all sorts of other vehicles used to transport who-knows-what. The entire grounds were surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed-wire.

"Lady, where's my Dad?" Alfred asked again, looking at the woman who he had first seen after he had woken up.

"Doctor Jones is busy right now, he may see you later." She said coldly, not meeting his eyes.

"When! I'm leaving RIGHT NOW!" Alfred shouted at her.

"I do believe that it is time for you to leave." Professor Patriachova said just as a man in a grey uniform closed the door of the van and the engine was ignited.

The drive took a large part of the day. They passed through cities and small towns, past outlet malls and farms, before they reached their destination. All Alfred could see through the windshield-the only window in the car- were high stone walls. Two soldiers stood in front of what appeared to be the only entrance.

The driver of the van showed the soldiers an ID card of sorts and they opened the gate into the compound. Alfred was surprised to see, through the dirty windshield, a carefully maintained grass lawn around a long two story building. The building itself was painted white and was in good repair. The windows were clear and bright as if they had recently been cleaned. The van pulled up near the front of the house and a pair of soldiers opened the door of the van.

"This way." One of them told Alfred. He stepped out of the car and followed the men into the building, taking along only a backpack of secondhand clothing.

They walked into what appeared to be a check-in lobby, like at a doctor's office. Alfred had been to plenty of those. There was even a woman sitting in front of a computer at the desk. She looked up at them and smiled, Alfred found himself smiling back; she was rather pretty.

"Alfred F. Jones?" she asked, double checking with her computer.

"Yep." He said in his normal cheerful manner.

"The others are waiting for you, just walk through that door." She said, pointing to a door on the right. He smiled at her, waved goodbye to the soldiers, and walked into the next room. There, he was met with chaos.

Everyone in the room seemed to be in their mid-to late-teens. One of the girls with brown hair seemed to have gotten her hands on a frying pan and was hitting a boy with white hair and red eyes with it. Two Asians were sitting near each other, looking anywhere but at each other. A boy with auburn hair ran past Alfred, screaming for someone named Ludwig. Towards the back of the room, a boy with wavy shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes was talking to another boy with short, messy blonde hair, green eyes, and very thick eyebrows. The second boy seemed to be yelling at the first for something, but Alfred couldn't make it out through the noise. Everything became silent when the door closed with a click behind Alfred. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Hi! I'm Alfred F. Jones, I'm a hero!" Alfred said, smiling brightly at everyone in the room. Everyone stared at him like he had grown a second head. "Umm…is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Why are you smiling, kid?" a rather large boy in a Hawaiian shirt asked.

"What?" Alfred asked.

"It doesn't matter, you'll learn soon enough. My name's Danny." The boy said. Just then, a man in a lab coat walked in.

"It is good to see that you are in good condition, Mr. Jones," the man began, he had a balding head of faded brown hair and muddy brown eyes, the others looked at him with distrust. "Mr. Honda, would you please give him a tour of the facility? He will be staying in room 59A." One of the Asians, the one with short hair and almost dead looking brown eyes stood up and nodded at the man. The man thanked him and left.

"This way." The boy said, walking out of one of the three doors in the room. Alfred followed.

"So, what's your name?" Alfred asked when he caught up with the boy.

"Kiku Honda," the boy replied emotionlessly. "This is the cafeteria." He pointed to a door that looked like all of the others in the hallway. "That is Recreational Room 2, the room you were in before was Recreational Room 1."

"Uhhh, okay." Alfred said, though in his head he was wondering how he would ever remember where any of this was.

"We are not to enter any of other rooms unless we are told to do so by the Doctors, Professors, or other workers present here." Kiku explained.

"Why are there Doctors and Professors? What's going on here? They didn't explain anything to me." Alfred asked, looking at Kiku with bright blue eyes that held so much life, so much more than any of the people here. Kiku knew that it wouldn't be like that for long; soon Alfred would also fall into the clutches of despair that had dragged everyone down so far they now had to pretend to be the people they once were, they now had to pretend to goof around and enjoy each other's company, it was all pretend, Yet he couldn't bring himself to tell Alfred, he did not want to be the one responsible for those eyes becoming dead and lifeless and that smile becoming fake as he joined their game of pretend.

"I will not answer those questions. You will have to ask another person, Alfred," Kiku said, refusing to look at Alfred anymore. "Now I will lead you to your room. Everyone has to share a room, but as there is already an equal amount of males and you cannot share a room with Elizaveta, so you will have your own room, for now." Kiku stopped in front of a door labeled '59A'.

"What do you mean 'for now'?" Alfred asked, confused.

"It does not matter. My room is next door." Kiku replied, turning away from Alfred. Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms around him. The hug lasted for all of two seconds, but Kiku jumped away from him as soon as he was released.

"Why did you touch me?" Kiku asked. "I hope you understand how awkward that was for me."

"A hug was awkward for you? Sorry, I didn't think it would be. I hugged you to say 'thanks' for showing me around!"

"Oh, you are welcome, Alfred. I will see you at dinner." Kiku walked away quickly, leaving Alfred to wonder about what kind of person finds hugs awkward.

**OoOoOoOoO**  
><strong>AN: As much as I love seeing author alerts and people favoriting this, it does not compare to reviews. So please review!<br>Also, I don't think I wrote Japan very well, sorry if he seems OOC, it is my first time writing about many of these characters (I am best at writing about Russia, for some scary reason) but I will try my best!  
><strong>


	3. Mafia

**Thanks so much for the reviews, again! You guys are great! Now, on to chapter 3! **

**Slight warning: These are people in their late teens, they swear, as they will in this chapter. It isn't very bad swearing, nor is it frequent, but I thought I would warn you.  
>Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, USUK, GerIta, Spamano, etc... would actually be canon and I wouldn't be posting this on fanfiction. Hetalia belongs to the amazing Himaruya (and the US can claim that Hetalia is theirs, not Japan's, since he had the idea for Hetalia while we was in New York), and respective copyright holders.<br>**** OoOoOoOoO**

Alfred looked around the room, unsure of what to do now that his few belongings had been put away (and by that it means that all of his clothes had been shoved into the dresser on his side of the room). He fell back onto his new bed and let his eyes wander toward the large electric clock on the wall where, in bright red lights, it proclaimed that the time was "5:45". Fifteen minutes until dinner, according to the schedule beneath it.

Alfred decided to take a closer look at his new glasses. He pulled them off and brought them close enough to his eyes that he could see them. His old glasses had been thrown away, apparently, so they had had to quickly scrounge for a pair. Alfred had insisted that he had a spare and that his father could bring them, but everyone had ignored him. These new glasses were of very nice quality, leaving Alfred to wonder where they had gotten them.

After a minute or so of staring at his glasses, he got bored and proceeded to look around the room once more. There was nothing. The walls were a bland off-white, the sheets on both his and the other bed were starched and stiff and also white. The floor was carpeted and also white. The furniture was white as well. Alfred felt that he would lose his mind in the lack of color, as he had grown up in a room with red and blue walls, a blue bed and red desk, and everything else colorful. As a result of his disease, he hadn't ever been able to move out because his mother had always worried excessively about him, so he had lived in a brightly painted room his whole life.

Ten minutes until dinner. Alfred wanted to do something, anything! He was so bored; he swore his brain was melting. He stood up and paced around the room. That didn't occupy him at all. He gave up on that and moved to the window. Opening the curtains, he saw nothing but a grey stone wall about five feet from him. Against the wall lounged a soldier, like the ones Alfred had seen upon his arrival. He looked as bored at Alfred felt, which was odd because Alfred had always thought they were trained for this. But, Alfred mused, nothing probably ever happens here anyway.

Suddenly, the soldier looked his way. His eyes seemed rather nonchalant. He smiled at Alfred and waved, until an odd look of respect filled his eyes and the soldier straightened his back and saluted. Alfred looked around but there was no one approaching the soldier. The soldier looked at Alfred, was he saluting him? Alfred didn't know, so he quickly closed the curtains.

He sat back down on his bed and stared dumbly at the wall. He was so confused. When he finally shook himself out of his confusion, he noticed that there were only two minutes until dinner.

"Shit!" Alfred exclaimed before hurrying out the door. He ran down the hallway he was in and turned down the next one on his left. He had always been good with directions and soon he found himself slowing to a stop in front of a nondescript door with the word "CAFETERIA" written on a small plaque next to it. He rested for a minute to slow his breathing before opening the door and walking in.

The room was much larger than Alfred had expected, with a long rectangular table that could seat over a hundred people. As it was, there were not a hundred people eating so they all sat near each other at one end of the table. Alfred walked over to the empty seat by Kiku and sat down. All conversation stopped.

The next minute, members of a staff of sorts, walked out of two doors that lead, presumably, to the kitchen, and set food on the table, and then they walked out. Everyone immediately began reaching for food, so Alfred did the same. Once his plate was full, he started eating, not noticing the awkward silence that filled the room.

"Alfred." Alfred heard someone say. He glanced around, looking for the person who had spoken.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Don't talk with your mouth open, its revolting." the boy who sat across from him. He had very thick eyebrows that looked like something had crawled onto his face and died, and he spoke in a prominent British accent. Alfred swallowed his food before opening his mouth to speak.

"Dude, have you ever noticed that there's something growing on your face?" Alfred asked, ignoring whatever the other boy had said.

"Why you little…of all the stupid…what the bloody hell…!" the Brit sputtered, his face going red with fury. The boy who had introduced himself as Danny earlier just laughed.

"So, uh, I kinda want to know why we're here." Alfred said when the British boy had finally calmed down.

"I suggest you don't ask those questions." the same boy who had reprimanded him for talking with food in his mouth said coldly.

"But why not?" Alfred whined, confusion shining in his eyes. Arthur flinched when he looked into Alfred's eyes, but Alfred didn't notice.

"It's better that way, now stop talking and _eat_." he replied.

"Can't everyone tell me their names first?" Alfred whined again.

"Fine then, allow me to humor you, my name is Arthur Kirkland." The boy, Arthur, said.

"Francis Bonnefoy." said the boy with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes on Arthur's right.

"Gilbert Beillschmidt." the boy with white hair, red eyes, and an oddly pitched voice said.

"Elizaveta Héderváry." the only girl at the table, with long brown hair and green eyes, said.

"You already know that I'm Danny." the large boy Alfred had talked to before, said.

"Yao Wang." an Asian boy that looked rather like a girl with long dark hair and dark eyes said.

"Ve~ I'm Feliciano Vargas." a boy with faraway light-brown eyes and auburn hair with a wild curl sticking out of it, said.

"Ludwig Beillschmidt." a boy with scary bright blue eyes and short blonde hair that was slicked back away from his face, said.

"Kiku Honda." Kiku said from his spot next to Alfred. Alfred smiled.

"Nice to meet you all! I'm Alfred F. Jones!" Alfred said, even though he had already introduced himself.

"Jones? What does your father do for a living?" Arthur asked suddenly.

"My dad's a scientist, or something. I'm not exactly sure, I hadn't seen much of him these past few months, but I did see him earlier today, back at that place…" Alfred trailed off, since he wasn't sure where he had been when he woke up.

"What!" Arthur yelled, "Do you mean to tell us that your father is _the _Dr. Jones that is running this entire place!"

"Ummmm, I dunno." Alfred replied. He had no idea what Arthur was talking about.

"Admit it! Drop your happy confused act. No one is buying it! You're a spy, aren't you! Sent here by your father, no doubt, to 'keep an eye one us'"! Go back to your father, there is nothing for you to spy on here!" Arthur yelled at him.

"Arthur, calm down." Francis said. Arthur turned on him.

"Don't tell me to calm down you bloody frog! You know as well as I do that that boy is too happy to belong here! _He doesn't fit_!"

"Listen, Arthur, I have no idea what you're talking about. What do you mean? Why would my dad want to spy on you guys? And what do you mean I'm too happy to be here?" Alfred asked.

"I mean exactly what I say, now stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about!" Arthur turned back to him.

"But I honestly don't know! They wouldn't tell me anything when I woke up. My dad refused to look at me, and when he did even _I _could see the disgust in his eyes. I just want to know what the hell is going on!" Alfred yelled back. Then he got up and left the room.

Everyone just stared at the seat Alfred had recently occupied, unsure of what to do.

"Well, what do we do now?" Danny asked. No one replied.

Kiku looked around the room and saw the masks that had been put up in the face of an unknown entity, slowly slip off their faces; revealing tired eyes that were empty of emotion and the signs of much stress. Their faces looked much older than they physically appeared to be.

"Ve, I think he was telling the truth." Feliciano said.

"Or he could just be a very good liar." Arthur replied, refusing to even suggest that he was wrong.

"We should still tell him." Elizaveta spoke up.

"No, let him figure it out on his own. We managed." Arthur replied.

"But there are a lot of us and only one of him." Elizaveta protested.

"Then he will figure it out with the arrival of the next one, and the one after that." Arthur said stubbornly.

"You are all fools! He is one of us!" Yao finally spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Arthur replied.

"I mean that he is the same as we all are. I know who he is now." Yao replied.

"Spit it out then!" Danny yelled at him.

"It's seems he will be very helpful as we are on his land. Alfred F. Jones is the United States of America."

**A/N: Did you really think I was going to leave the countries out of this? They are the essence of Hetalia, are they not?  
><strong>**I love reviews a lot more that author/story alerts and favorites, remember that! I will try to have the next chapter up early next week! I'm going away on a three day birthday celebration to Ocean Shores on Friday, so I wonder how many reviews I can get between now and Sunday/Monday...**

**On another note, making a plushy is soooo hard! I'm making one for my friends birthday (shhhhh) and it's slow going. I will post a picture of it onto my DeviantArt account when it is done if anyone wants to see.**


	4. Hide and Seek

**I wrote this for a few reasons. 1) This story was lacking Russia and 2) I needed to write something that was more like what I usually write. So this was born! **

**Disclaimer: I own neither Hetalia: Axis Powers now Hetalia: World Series. Why? Because I'm not Japanese and I'm not male. Who fits that description? Himaruya, the person who does own it (and respective copyright holders).**

He ran. Quickly, quicker, even quicker. We dodged trees and jumped over rocks. Faster, faster. He had to get away. He could hear them, hear their muffled footsteps behind him, feel their voices travel through the forest. His heart was pounding, his breathing quick and shallow. His legs carried him farther into the woods, and hopefully away from them.

They wouldn't catch him, they wouldn't get him, he wouldn't allow them too. We gripped his one weapons tightly as he ran through the brush. He was not weak, he would not be taken without a few casualties.

At the same time as he ran for his life, he reveled in the ability to run again. A car crash a year prior had paralyzed his legs and the last thing he remembered before all of this was a loud screech, a car honking, and the horrified look on his sisters faces. But he was well, and soon he would be away from this place.

He ignored the pain caused by the thorns that tore his skin open as he ran; he ignored the weakness in his long unused legs; he ignored the burning in his lungs. He had to go. Run, run, run.

Dogs barked behind him. Faster, faster, faster. But he felt himself slowing down.

"Dammit!" he hissed, then he heard it. A river. How had he not noticed it before, he wondered. But now was no time to wonder. He jumped into the fast moving muddy water when it became visible through the undergrowth. It reached his waist but he forced himself under it, forced his head under it. He gasped in the current as it pulled him along, trying to push his head above the water to gasp for air before dunking it under again.

They wouldn't find him. The dogs will lose his scent. He was home free.

His legs were dragged limply across rocks, his arms battered against unseen hazards in the murky water. It filled his mouth and he couldn't stay afloat. But he would. This was his way to freedom. He would endure. He would survive. He struggled to find calm in the water, to get a grip and start swimming. He started thrashing in the water as it became deeper, dragging him down.

The jacket he had stolen after waking up tangled in his legs and arms, preventing movement, his scarf wrapped itself around his neck murderous. He needed to rise to the surface. He needed air. He struggled to untangle himself when he felt sand against his back. Forcing his eyes to squint in the water, he saw the surface. He had been forced against a bank on the river. He struggles increased, so close…

He untangled an arm and reached out for a stray root that broke through the earth into the river. His lungs were about to burst. He needed air. Air, air, air; it was the only thing on his mind besides escape, which rang through his head like a war cry. Freedom and air. He needed both, now.

He managed to drag himself up. He gulped at the air, never before had it been so sweet. He pulled himself pitifully onto the riverbank, away from the water. He untangled and straightened out his clothes as best as he could given their wet state. A hospital gown under a thick beige winter coat and a pale pink scarf, he held a pipe, now free of all traces of the blood that belonged to the person he had stolen the coat from. He smiled, so close, so very _very _close.

He could still hear the dogs from the opposing bank. He had to go soon before they could catch his scent. The wind favored him by blowing away from their direction, but that could easily change. He continued on, walking more calmly this time. His entire body was sore and battered from the beating the river had dealt him in exchange for its help, but he didn't pay it any mind. He was getting away.

His wet hair stuck to his forehead and his clothing attracted dirt and dust and god knows what else, his bare feet were prickled with burs and thorns and just random pieces of wood and rocks. He was bleeding from several parts on his body. Yet, the smile on his face never wavered.

He _was _starting to get cold though. He shivered in his wet clothing and once again cursed the people that were responsible for this to hell.

When all noises faded away besides the wind in the trees and the animals that naturally resided in the forest, he stopped to rest. He sat on a fallen log and looked around him. Being mostly dry, he had no trouble getting comfortable and fell into a light sleep. When he awoke, it was dark and he was cold and hungry.

Seeing as there was nothing he could do to fix his current situation, he decided to keep walking. If he walked forward, he'd have to hit a road somewhere, right? As he walked, he thought to keep his mind off of the temperature and his hunger.

He remembered waking up. The room was like a hospital, sterile and white; he had been in plenty of those. But instead of being hooked up to an IV and heart monitor, resting on an uncomfortable bed with starched sheets in a hospital gown, he was naked and resting on a cold metal table. Looking around, the room was larger than a hospital room and there were three doors. At that minute, one of the doors had opened. A man with thinning brown hair and a beard walked in.

"So, you're alive." the man said, taking his coat off and walking over to where he lay on the table. He didn't like the way the man's eyes travelled over his body but made no motion to move, he wouldn't give this man the pleasure of knowing that he had made him uncomfortable. He scowled at the man.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You are supposed to be dead." the main replied, amusement shone in his smile.

"Nyet, I'm alive." he replied indignantly. The man laughed and opened a drawer before throwing something at him. A hospital gown. He scrambled into it.

"Are you now, I hadn't noticed." the man rolled his eyes. "But it seems like there is another failure. How sad. Time to ship you off to the facility, I suppose. Oh the tragedy, all of those tax dollars wasted. We had hoped to be able to get your hair." the man rambled. He didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't say anything. Instead, a smile found its way onto his face and he sat there, grinning. That was when things began to go wrong.

The man walked over to him and stood close. Too close. Much too close. He scrambled up and off of the table, panic not letting his mind marvel over the feeling in his long unused legs. He backed as far away from the man as possible. The man laughed as he inched further back. When the man stepped forward a step, he lost it an grabbed for the faucet of the sink he was standing against. He was surprised when he pulled an entire pipe out, but in his panic, everything that followed was blanked from his mind. All he could remember was a haze of red and opening his eyes to a bloody pipe and the mangled body of the man. He grabbed the man's coat and ran from the room, somehow he found the exit. Soon, he noticed people behind him and the hunt was on.

No, now he was safe. They weren't going to get him.

But he couldn't get the look of the man's broken body out of his head. The vibrant red that had splashed across the room, painting it in the color of life; he had liked it, liked the power he felt knowing that he could take another's life, but he was also afraid. Afraid that he was losing his mind. Had he lost it a year ago, when he lost his legs and had been forced to rely on his sisters so-called 'help'? He didn't know, he was too scared to know.

Walk, walk. Robotically, mechanically, disconnectedly, walk. Don't think, just walk. Focus on finding a road. Focus on sunny days and beaches and sunflowers. Focus on laughter and music and tea. Focus on peaches and metal pipes and blood-NO! Don't. Don't think about anything. Just _walk_. Freedom.

Free. Free. Free. His mind chanted as he blocked out all other thoughts. Free. Free. Free.

Then, he heard it. Dogs barking, people shouting, footsteps. How could they have gotten this close? How could they have found him? Run. Run. Run! Don't get caught!

He ran, faster and faster. He hadn't done this on over a year, but he used to be a runner, he knew the routine. Breath. Breath. Running on the balls of his feet in a sprinters position, he sped through the plants. Cuts that had clotted over were opened again and new ones were cut open as well. The twigs and nettles and everything else tore at his skin, at his coat. But he ran. they weren't going to get him. There was no way they could.

Too late he heard people in front of him. He saw them; dogs barking and snarling and straining at their restraints, begging of the kill. He saw how stupid he had been. He had allowed himself to be flanked, herded neatly into a trap. He cursed his rashness, his stupidity. He saw the uniformed workers, waiting for him. He tripped over something and fell. He felt something sting his arm. Then numbness, silence, and blissful darkness.

His eye's struggled open slowly into a brightly lit white room. But instead of a ceiling, the first thing he saw were bright blue eyes filled with concern behind glasses.

"Oh, you're up! That's good. I'm Alfred F. Jones, your roommate!" the owner of the eyes said in an annoying voice. He turned away from him and buried his head in his pillow.

**A/N: Just to clear things up, Danny is not an OC, he is Cuba. And trust me here, he will be much more like the Cuba we all know later. Okay? I have reasons for everything.**

**Man, it's really hard using no names, just "he" and the like in an entire chapter. I hope it makes sense. Sorry if I haven't replied to your reviews, I will. I just got back from a three day trip to Ocean Shores and HAD to type this up. _Please review_, because that makes me write more! See? The chapters are getting longer and longer, even though its just twenty or so words.**


	5. Shadows

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating in so long, I had a bit of a writers block, but it's all good now. The funny thing is that I was able to write again when I started watch Sukisyo (this is the best shounen-ai ever, seriously), so I was writing this and watching that at the same time. **

**WARNING: THIS CONTAINS A LOT OF SWEARING. If it bothers you, please don't read.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, I wouldn't be living in a crappy dung-coloured apartment sharing a room with my twin brother with a hole in my bathroom wall and ants slowly taking over my house. I would obviously be living in a crappy condo instead. XD**

* * *

><p>"It's great that there is someone else here who is new 'cause it's really weird being the only one that doesn't know what the hell is going on and it's cool to have a roommate even though you're kind of scary looking and when those army people walked in you were all tied up and shit but you seem like a pretty cool guy I s'pose, you could probably make an okay sidekick, 'cause I'm a hero and-" Alfred rambled on. This had been going on for about ten minutes and Ivan had yet to have a chance to speak, let alone ask questions. Alfred hardly stopped to breath, let alone allow another person to speak! Just then, someone knocked on the door. Alfred got off of his bed and opened the door.<p>

"Hey Kiku." Alfred said. Ivan noticed that Alfred's demeanor changed. He became a bit colder and more guarded, though the stupid smile was still on his face.

"How are you doing? Is Ivan awake yet?" Kiku asked. He didn't try to look inside the room as others might have, instead he kept his eyes on Alfred's.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? And yeah, Ivan woke up a while ago. We've been talking." Alfred replied. Ivan found himself wanting to laugh when Alfred said that they had been talking. It was more like Alfred had been talking and he had been trying to zone him out.

"That is good. Will you be going to lunch? You were not present for breakfast this morning." Kiku said. It had been a long time since he had felt concern for anyone, and he couldn't understand why he felt it for this loud, obnoxious, clueless _idiot_. Alfred was like fresh air in a room with no air current or like light in a forever dark room, Kiku was used to life without it but when it was presented to him, he wanted to cling onto it and never let go.

"Yeah. Ivan and I will be there. Anything else you want?" Alfred asked.

"No, I'll see you at lunch then." Kiku said before turning towards the cafeteria. Alfred closed the door after him and turned back to Ivan. His smile was gone, replaced with a tight frown. His eyes shone with confusion and frustration. He sat back onto his bed with a sigh.

"I just wish I knew what was going on, you know?" Alfred said, looking at Ivan.

"Don't complain to me, go ask them. I would very much like to know too." Ivan said.

"Yeah, I think I will. Oh, time for lunch!" Alfred said, looking at the clock that read 11:30. "Let's go!" He dragged Ivan out the door.

Ivan followed Alfred quietly down the hall, he wondered where he had gotten the clothes that had been placed in his drawers and closet in their shared room. He was currently wearing a pair of plain blue jeans and a black t-shirt. Finally they stopped in a room labelled "CAFETERIA". Alfred opened the door and motioned Ivan in.

Noticing two open seats next to Kiku, Alfred walked over and sat down, motioning Ivan to the empty seat next to him. The silence hung over them like a toxin, no one wanted to make a sound.

Alfred chewed his food like it was clay, for the first time in his life not eating everything in sight like a pig. He stopped eating when he felt someone staring at him. He turned to meet Ivan's violet eyes.

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, you are just acting differently. It is strange." Ivan replied.

"I just don't want to talk, I'm not acting differently." Alfred said defensively.

"Of course not. So, can anyone tell me why we're here?" Ivan asked.

Before anyone could speak, the same man in a lab coat who had told Kiku to show Alfred around walked into the room.

"Recreational room one is now open for use until 2 pm. At that time, Alfred is to present himself to Office #11." after saying that, he left. Everyone in the room turned to look at Alfred.

"WHAAAT?" Alfred yelled. He stood up so fast that his chair clattered backwards onto the floor.

"Calm down, you idiot! They will just ask some questions. Don't freak out." Arthur said with a sigh. But he continued to stare at Alfred seriously, assessing him slowly. He scrunched his forehead as if he was trying to figure out a complex puzzle.

"Don't tell me what to do." Alfred said, pouting like a child, before walking out of the room towards the recreational room that they were allowed in. Once there he plopped himself onto a couch, pulled his knees to his chest, and just sat there, brooding. Suddenly, Danny walked into the room, holding a...

"Where did you get an ice-cream cone!" Alfred asked in amazement.

"I have my ways," Danny laughed, throwing his head back. "Oh, can you hold this for me? I need to get something from my room." Danny handed Alfred his ice-cream and hurried out of the room.

Alfred held the ice-cream cone and tried to resist the urge to eat it. When was the last time he had ice-cream? He remembered sitting at Factoria Mall with his mother who was laughing at the insane amount of extras that he had added to his bubble gum flavoured ice-cream, so long ago. That was before he had his fit; that was before his world became limited to a single white square; that was before his father stopped looking at him. He frowned, losing all appetite for the cold treat.

He just sat there, going through his memories.

He remembered his first skateboard. He had begged his mom for one when he saw that the other boys in the neighbourhood had one too. He still had the scar from when he rode down the hill and straight into Mrs. Prewitts rosebush.

He thought of his first dog, Mike, a very energetic Golden Retriever. He never did get that dog to pull him on his skateboard, Mike ran too fast and would pull him off. He was five years old when his mother bought Mike. He had loved the dog to bits; Mike had been his true sidekick. They saved Ms. Jane's cat from being kidnapped (by the groomer), they prevented Jake, the boy who always bullied Alfred, from stealing money (his allowance) from a kind old man (his father), they had even saved Katie, the girl that Alfred most _definitely _did not like, from being hit by a ball (she was playing soccer). Alfred smiled, those were good times. He remembered the sad day when he came home when he was nine and his mother told him that Mike had been hit by a car. After that they had a beagle, but it wasn't the same, the beagle liked Alfred's mom more.

He had the nagging feeling that he should be remembering something else, something very important. All his life he had felt like something was missing, like he wasn't supposed to be alone, like there was supposed to be someone with him as he went through all of the dramas of childhood. But there never was. The one time he had asked his mother about it, she had looked so sad that Alfred had vowed never to mention it again.

Alfred was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when he let go of the ice-cream in his hand. He wouldn't have noticed if not for Danny re-entering the room.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ICE-CREAM?" Danny screamed, looking at the glop on the floor with horror-filled eyes.

"Ummm, I dropped it?" Alfred said apologetically.

"My ice-cream! No! I only get one once a _month_! Do you know how hard it is to not have ice-cream for so long!" Danny said in despair.

"Relax dude, it's just ice-cream." Alfred said, not getting what the big deal was.

"Just ice-cream? You fucking bastard, it may be just that to you but it's pretty damn important to me. I fucking hate you, man. I'm never going to fucking trust you again you piece of shit!" Danny yelled at Alfred.

"Dude, it's not that serious." Alfred said again.

"That's what you think you fucking asshole." Danny said right before he punched Alfred in the stomach.

"What the fuck was that for!" Alfred said in between fits of coughing and trying to cat his breath. He didn't wait for Danny to respond before punching him in the eye.

"Fucking shit!" Danny hissed, grabbing his eyes. They glared at each other before throwing themselves on each other, punching, kicking, and even biting. Just for the sake of causing the other pain.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce to you Matthew—" the same man in the lab coat as before entered the room and stopped where he stood when he saw the two men beating the life out of each other. "Guards, someone, separate those two immediately!"

Four armed soldiers hastily entered the room and pulled the two brawling boys apart, dragging them to opposite sides of the room.

"We do not allow fighting of any kind in this institute. You should know better Danny, you will have one day in solitary to think about your actions. You have one warning, Alfred, since you are new. Next time I will not be so lenient." after finishing speaking, the soldiers walked Danny out of the room, who glared at Alfred the entire time, and Alfred was released.

"Now, as I was saying, this is Matthew Williams. He is new to this facility. Alfred, please take him and introduce him to the others. I will see you at 2 in Office #11, don't forget." then the man walked out of the room. Alfred looked at the new boy curiously, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Oh my God." he said.

"Maple!" Matthew squeaked at the same time as Alfred.

"You look just like me!" Alfred exclaimed.

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><p><strong><span>AN: Oh, my dear Matthew, I have such plans for you...  
>Anyway, now we have the reason as to why Cuba hates America. ^^ Ice-cream is important, man. Don't diss the ice-cream. <strong>

**So, my amazing readers that I would die without (not really, I just wouldn't post anything because I would be too nervous), please leave me some reviews. I always reply! Your reviews are amazing, your engouragement is wonderful, I reread them almost everyday. They make me so happy! I promise that the next chapter will be 3,000+ words if I get some nice and long reviews. Those are the best! Otherwise the chapter will be 1,500+ like usual.**


	6. Poison Spurt

**A/N: I know that I shouldn't be doing this, but I was on a roll and got this chapter done very quickly. This is a very eventful chapter, just warning you. We're finally getting into the story more and more!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, I would not be posting fanfiction for it, would I? This would all be canon!**

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><p>"Wow! This is so weird! It's like looking in a mirror!" Alfred said, amazed. Matthew just stared at him, unsure of what to say. After a few minutes, Alfred snapped out of it.<p>

"Well, I guess I better go introduce you to the others. I've gotta warn ya though, there's this jerk British guy with some weird shit growing on his face who is a complete jerk. I dunno 'bout the others yet, I only got here yesterday before dinner time and Ivan, that's my roommate, got here yesterday an hour or so after dinner and now you're here after lunch, but anyway I haven't gotten to know the others yet, except that guy, Danny, who I was fighting with when you got here. He seemed pretty cool until her flipped out today over ice-cream. I bet he regrets getting into a fight with the hero-that's me. That black eye is probably hurting a ton right now." Alfred started rambling as he led Matthew out of the room.

"Um, do you know why we're here?" Matthew asked when Alfred took a pause in talking.

"No, I think the others do, but they don't trust me because of my dad or some shit, so they won't tell me," Alfred replied. "Hmm, they should still be in the cafeteria. Dude, wanna mess with their heads?"

"H-huh?" Matthew asked, looking at Alfred.

"We should tell them that you're my twin brother! It would totally work!" Alfred said excitedly. They had stopped in front of a door.

"But we have different last names and how old are you?" Matthew replied.

"We can say that our parents are divorced and that you grew up with mom, or something like that, and I'm nineteen. My birthday was on January 18th." Alfred replied, thinking carefully for once in his life.

"Wow, really? I'm also nineteen and my birthday is then too." Matthew replied, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Huh, what are the odds? You look like me _and _we have the same birthday! Maybe we really are twins!" Alfred laughed. Matthew smiled shyly, secretly liking the idea of having a brother. "So, agreed? We're twins that have been separated for years and are surprised to see the other here?"

"Sounds about right." Matthew replied. The idea excited him. He had always been quiet and unnoticed, always blended into the background. It was nice to see one person focusing their attention solely on him.

"Awesome, let's go in and meet the others, bro." Alfred opened the door to the cafeteria. Inside sat everyone else but Danny. They seemed to be talking about something serious, as all of their faces looked grim. Ivan sat there, nodding to what was being told to him. When Alfred and Matthew entered, everyone looked at them. Alfred noticed with growing anger that Ivan now looked at him the same way that the others had. What had they been telling him!

"Hey guys! This is my twin brother, Matthew! Isn't it so weird that he's here too?" Alfred asked loudly, deciding to act like he didn't notice their-and Ivan's in particular-coldness towards him.

"Your twin brother?" Arthur asked, shock all over his face.

"Yeah. We haven't seen each other in years cause our parents are divorced and he lived with my mom, but he's here too, so yeah. Pretty cool right! We look just like each other!" with that, Alfred swung his arm around Matthew's shoulders.

"Hello." Matthew said quietly, not liking having all the attention focused on him.

"Well, come and sit Matthew. I'm sure you'd like some lunch." Arthur said, looking at Matthew and ignoring Alfred completely.

"Hey!" Alfred exclaimed.

"What? You've already eaten, haven't you? Now run along like a good doggy. We can take care of Matthew; you don't need to worry about it." Arthur said, looking at Alfred blankly.

"Yeah, just like you took care of Ivan? Come on Mattie, you can get something to eat later." Alfred said, grabbing his "brother's" arm and turning to walk out the door. Matthew found himself smiling a small smile at the nickname.

"What are you on about now? Leave Matthew alone and allow him to eat. You have no right to let your brother starve." Arthur said, sighing. Alfred noticed Francis looking at Matthew with interest, which only made him tighten his grip on his "twin".

"Umm, Al, I'd like to eat." Matthew said, making Alfred stop in his tracks.

"See? Now as there isn't another chair, you can take the one that Alfred had previously occupied, Matthew, and help yourself to some food." Arthur said. The smug tone of him voice infuriated Alfred more. But nonetheless Alfred found himself letting go of Matthew's arm until they stood face to face, with Matthew standing between Alfred and the rest of the people.

"Please." Alfred mouthed to Matthew, but Matthew just looked at him in confusion before turning around to take a seat at the table. Feeling strangely mournful, as if he had just lost something incredibly valuable, Alfred hurried out of the room. He could only barely stop himself from running to his bedroom, and when he got there he flung himself onto his bed.

He tore at his pillows and blanket in blind rage, throwing them across the room before his anger was replaced with a strong feeling of loss and sadness. He burst into tears, burying his face into his bedding. He cried. Cried for his mother, even though he would never admit it, who he missed like crazy; cried for his stupid beagle that just sat and looked at him stupidly all day but slept at the foot of his bed every night anyway; cried for the new school year he was missing, his first semester in the local community college (he was planning on starting out there and then transferring to the University of Washington after a few years); he cried for his brightly coloured bedroom filled sports trophies and medals; he even cried for Timmy, the stuffed rabbit that he had had for years but hadn't thought of at all since he turned ten. He was confused, and scared, and it seemed that of the four friends he had managed to make in his not even two days there had either turned into his enemy or had been turned against him. Though did they really count as friends? Alfred was so lost.

He rolled into a ball on his bed, not bothering to get his blanket or pillows. He checked the time, 12:47. He still has plenty of time before he had to go see the people that ran this place. He could just lay there and mourn his sorry existence in peace. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

He looked at his bedroom door expectantly when he saw the doorknob move. The door opened slowly and Alfred frowned in impatience. What was Ivan doing? However, when the door opened all the way, the towering Russian was not in sight. Instead was a small, vaguely human shaped _thing _with big red eyes, no mouth, and green-ish white skin.

"An alien! No way!" Alfred gasped. "Alright, whose funny idea was this!"

"America." the alien said, landing its huge eyes on Alfred.

"This was America's funny idea? Huh, you'd think the government had better things to do." Alfred said, looking at the intruder in confusion. The alien seemed to roll it's eyes.

"I'm Tony. You're America. I have been looking for you." the alien said again. Alfred had no idea how it spoke with no mouth.

"I'm America? A person can't be a country, Tony." Alfred said. This alien was amusing.

"You do not know? That is troublesome. I will speak with you soon." the alien said, and in a flash of green light it was gone. Alfred's eyes nearly popped out of his head. That thing was _real_? No _way_! He considered telling the others, but they would just think him an idiot, and he didn't want to see them anyway. Alfred checked the clock, one hour left.

He sighed and got up, picking up his pillows and blanket before sitting back down on his bed. He had no friends and nothing to spend his time doing. How can he waste time? He certainly wasn't sleepy anymore. Looking around the room, he spotted some paper and a pack of crayons. He smiled and reached for them, settling down to draw.

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><p>An hour later, Matthew followed Ivan into the room. He couldn't believe what the others suspected of Alfred, even though he hardly knew him, he knew that Alfred was genuinely a good person.<p>

"So, this is your room?" Matthew asked Ivan. Ivan was big and scary looking, but he was okay for the most part. Ivan nodded. "Alfred should be in there now, right?"

"Da, I mean yes. Where else would he be?" Ivan said before opening the door. Matthew walked in only to find the room empty. Looking around the room, he saw pieces of paper and some crayons littering one of the beds.

He walked over to examine it and smiled at the pictures. One of them was a crudely drawn picture of Alfred himself, dressed like a superhero. Behind him, decorating that page was an America flag. On the next sheet as a picture of two dogs, one resembled a golden retriever and the other a beagle. The golden retriever had a halo and angel wings. The picture on the third page made Matthew's heart hurt. It was a picture of six boys. The one in the middle had blonde hair with an odd bit sticking out, he sat on the ground with a frown on his face—Alfred. Another one of them, a tall one with dark skin and frizzy hair in a Hawaiian shirt, glared at Alfred with scary red eyes—Matthew recognized him as the boy Alfred had been fighting with when he had entered the room. The boy standing next to him had short black hair and looked at Alfred with emotionless eyes—Matthew recognized him as one of the boys from the cafeteria. Matthew saw himself and Ivan looking away from Alfred, at the sixth boy, a boy with a nasty expression on his face and huge eyebrows, Arthur.

Is this really the way Alfred saw them? Matthew felt tears well up in his eyes for the boy who had accepted him as a brother. He wished he could go back and make the choice to leave with Alfred instead. He would have been able to find all of this out later but instead, when Alfred had needed him, he had let him down. What an odd place this was, Matthew thought, it's a place where one can become attached to another in such a short amount of time. Maybe it had to do with the fact that they were all living again, they had all received a second chance at life. He had seen the others, seen their lack of hope. Unlike them, Matthew didn't plan on spending his second chance in misery.

"Oh, it's already two. He must be meeting with that man right now." Ivan said, breaking the silence of the room.

"Oh. I guess I should go to my room then." Matthew replied. He hurried out of the room, not noticing that he was still holding the drawings. Ivan was starting to seem scarier and scarier. That smile on his face was terrifying! He walked to the room next to Alfred and Ivan's that had been designated as his.

The room looked just like Alfred's. Matthew sat down on one of the beds. He wasn't used to having a room to himself. He had shared a room with another boy who had been four years older than him, the real son of the people who had adopted him. He had been nice to him, but there had always been an awkwardness of sorts. Matthew had been adopted as a baby when their second child had been stillborn. They had been kind people, great parents, but occasionally Matthew had seen so much sadness in their eyes. They had really wanted that child and Matthew was just a replacement.

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><p>Meanwhile, in Office #11, Alfred sat on the other side of a desk, facing the man with thinning brown hair muddy brown eyes from before.<p>

"You wanted to talk to me, sir?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, how are you fitting in here?" the man, Dr. Richards, according to his nametag, asked.

"Ummm, what exactly is this place? Why am I here? Can you explain that first?" Alfred asked, Dr. Richards sighed.

"Do you remember why you were in the hospital?" the doctor asked.

"Umm, I had a really bad stomachache, right? What does that have to do with anything?" Alfred replied.

"That wasn't a stomachache, you had appendicitis. You got into surgery too late. The doctors thought that they had saved you, you even regained consciousness afterwards, but you passed away." Dr. Richards said.

"Dude, that's impossible. I'm still alive." Alfred replied.

"Stop interrupting and allow me to speak. As I was saying, after you passed away, your father donated your body to this experiment, the Patriot Experiment. The point of this experiment was to harvest specific DNA from different people in order to make a perfect person. It was a eugenics dream come true, where instead of carefully analyzing two people in order to breed a perfect human, we would instead be able to take certain parts of a person's genetic structure. Each of the people here have one or two, sometimes even three, straights that are desirable in a human. You were selected not only for your hair and eye color, but also for your prowess in sports.

"Unfortunately, for some people the drugs put in your system to extract the necessary DNA have a curious effect. They bring the subjects back to life. At first scientists marveled at this. Imagine it, there is a way to bring back to life people who have been dead for days, and in some cases even _weeks_! But then a flaw was discovered. These people that come back, they can't age, they can't reproduce, and they can only survive a year or two without going insane. They begin to believe that they are _countries _and they begin to recount things that never happened to them. One can't have an army of mad people, can they? This is why they are sent here, the failures, to live out their next few years until they will have to be put down." Dr. Richards said.

"So, you're saying that I will eventually go insane? You're saying that I will never look older than I am now? You're saying that you guys are planning to kill us like animals! That is unjust, that isn't right! That entire experiment is not right! It's like something from a sci-fi movie!" Alfred yelled, horrified.

"Many have questioned the ethics of this experiment, but the pros outweigh the cons. This will help the future. Now, would you please keep quiet about this? The others don't know anything and they would cause a scene if they did. I wouldn't tell you, but you are the son of Dr. Jones, so we decided that you should know. Now head back to your room and enjoy your next two years here. Don't forget, we'll be watching. You're rather close to Kiku, aren't you?" Dr. Richards said. Alfred looked at him with wide eyes; even he understood the threat in the last statement. He nodded and hurried out of the room, his head spinning.

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><p><strong><span>AN: So here it is, my longest chapter yet by about a thousand words! So now you guys know what this experiment is, but who is correct? Are the people running it correct in saying that the subjects lose their minds and convince themselves that they are countries, or are they really countries themselves and the doctors don't believe them! We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?**

**_PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!_ Last chapter I got less reviews than I usually do, so I'm nervous that you guys are losing interest. I hope that's not the case! I like hearing from everyone who reads this!**


	7. Sardines

**Story for such a long wait, I had a bit of writers block and I hadn't realized how hard it would be writing from Iggy's POV, so sorry for the shortness of this, the next chapter will be much longer, I promise!**

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><p>Arthur sighed and put his head onto the table when Ivan and Matthew left the room. Why didn't they see it like he did? Alfred was a threat. There was no way that the man leading this entire experiment would willingly subject his own son to it. Was there? Arthurs own relationship with his father wasn't the best, which is why he hadn't just had a funeral and allowed to rot in the ground, but surely not everyone had such poor relations with their parents. Some of them were there because their parents didn't have the money for a funeral, or they didn't have families in the first place.<p>

The entire situation confused him; he had once been so sure of what was to happen. He had plans, elaborate ones! Everyone had a part, a role, and they were fulfilling it perfectly. They were on their way out! And then one person had showed up and ruined it all. Why were Ivan and Matthew, who only knew him for maybe half an hour, so adamantly defending him?

"I like Matthew." Arthur heard Francis say. Arthur glared at him.

"Of course you do, why am I not surprised. Matthew had better be on guard against you." Arthur said.

"Do not assume that just because I like him I plan to seduce him!" Francis exclaimed, insulted.

"Of course you don't, frog." Arthur replied, rolling his eyes.

"He is _Canada_, yes? Which makes him my little brother; I have more honor than to pursue family." Francis replied.

"Little brother?" Arthur asked.

"Canada originally belonged to the French; surely you know that, especially since they speak French there, even if it is a horribly butchered version of my language. Since Alfred is America, he is your little brother." Francis explained.

"No, he is most definitely not my younger brother. It would not work like that anyway, since the American Revolution. We can hardly be considered siblings." Arthur said.

"Ohonhonhon, can this be because you are attracted to Alfred?" Francis asked, laughing.

"Of course not!" Arthur said, turning away so Francis could not see his bright red face. Francis just laughed and started a conversation with Gilbert. Arthur slipped one of the knives from the table into his sleeve and stood up to go to the room open for them, thinking that he would go read, when he heard Feliciano and Ludwig.

"Feliciano, what is wrong?" Ludwig said trying not to make a sound of annoyance as the crying Italian wrapped his arms around him, curl bobbing in the air unlike the rest of his auburn hair that was lying normally on his head.

"Ludwig, I miss my fratello." Feliciano cried.

"Calm down!" Ludwig replied, unable to think of anything else to say, especially since he hadn't liked the older Italian.

"B-b-but I miss him! And Antonio. And Bella. And _everyone_!" Feliciano sobbed, hugging the German tighter.

"It's okay Feli, here, give me a hug." Gilbert said, walking over. Ludwig shot his brother a glare as Feliciano turned around and hugged Gilbert instead. Gilbert flashed a smile that said "I win", as he patted the Italian's hair, carefully avoiding the curl. "I miss Tony and the others too."

Arthur couldn't help but roll his eyes, watching as the others gathered around the three and coddled Feliciano. But at the same time, he understood why Feliciano was crying; a number of them had been taken away a month ago and no one knew where they were taken. Feliciano kept insisting that Lovino, his brother, was still alive, saying that he could feel him. Which meant that the others were alive as well, they just had to be found.

As he walked out of the room, his mind started moving on to other thoughts, thoughts about Alfred; the American's bright blue eyes and shiny blonde hair, with the stubborn piece of hair sticking out. From the minute he saw Alfred, he couldn't deny that he was physically attracted to him. His cheerfulness, the light in his eyes, his smile, they were all something he was drawn to, and he knew that the others were too. Like a moth to light, Alfred was a flickering flame. Which meant that he could easily be used as a spy, used to weed out the ones that weren't content to by the lies fed to them and live the rest of their lives as lab rats. He just knew that Alfred would be used like that.

He changed the way he was walking and decided to go to his room to work on his plans. He wasn't watching where he was going; his mind was too full of contradicting thoughts when he bumped into someone.

"Sorry." he heard someone apologize, looking up he saw Alfred.

"You should be." Arthur heard himself respond without thinking. Then he saw the look in Alfred's eyes, it was one of pity and horror and fear, as if he knew something horrible about Arthur and felt bad for him.

"I already apologized, no need to be a jerk." Alfred said, averting his eyes and as he pushed past Arthur and entered his room. Arthur continued to his room, his thoughts once again whirling through his head.  
>What had they told Alfred that made him act like that? Or maybe he was like that because Arthur was being mean to him? No, that wouldn't explain the pity that had been Alfred's gaze. What did Alfred know? The way he had looked, there was no way that such an idiot could possibly fake the emotions that had played out in the bright blue eyes, darkening them enough to be noticeable. Arthur wished for those eyes to be bright. But he had to focus; he had to find out what Alfred had been told before he started worrying over his attraction.<p>

He the knife out of his sleeve and grabbed one of his pillows, shaking it out of its case before cutting it open on one side and reaching in to pull out a folder. He opened the folder and spread the pages out on his bed. He looked through them, finding a detailed layout of the building, background on all of the employees, escape plans old and new, and what information he had been able to gather on the others like him that were there. He had nothing about Danny, Alfred, Ivan, or Matthew, but he was sure that he would get those eventually.

"What are you doing here, Arthur?" Arthur heard Francis exclaim from the door. He turned to see Francis standing there with one of the female interns draped over him.

"I was just leaving." Arthur said hastily, knowing full well that Francis didn't mind an audience. He shoved the papers back into his pillow and hurried out of the room.

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><p><strong><span>AN: So there you have it, the beginnings of USUK in this USUK~! **

**Oh Francis, you whore. **

**Next chapter will be longer and back to Alfred's POV.**

**Thank you also to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I was soo happy with all of the reviews. I'm sorry if I didn't reply, I lost track of who I did and did not reply to. But I did read all of them and was very happy! I have the best readers ever!**

**EDIT: Westphalis decided to continue the fic! YAY! So please go and read "I'm an assassin, not a babysitter" by Westphalia, the beginning of chapter two is written by me! The nightmare. Heh heh, evil grown-up Sealand. **


	8. Treasure Hunt

**Short chapter again. Sorry, life is just easier this way. But now here is the next chapter! Back to Alfred now.**

**Warnings: Swearing and Tony's dislike of the English. **

**Disclaimer: I thought I should put this back up. Anyway, look at the url, now back to this, this is what Hetalia: Axis Powers could have looked like if I owned it, but I did not own it. Look down, back up. Nevermind, just read the fanfic.**

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><p>When Alfred entered his room, he saw that Ivan was already back. The Russian was standing at the far end of the room, looking out the window. He didn't turn around, even when Alfred closed the door.<p>

"What are you looking at?" Alfred asked, walking up to stand next to Ivan. Was Ivan already starting to lose his mind, so early in the game? Alfred figured that it was possible. He once again felt like he was drowning in pity, just as he had when he saw that jerk Arthur.

"There is a soldier outside, I've been trying to ask where my scarf is but he won't look at me." Ivan said in his cold childlike voice.

"Scarf?" Alfred asked, curious.

"Da, for some reason when I woke up, my scarf was in the same room as me and I didn't even notice when I grabbed it, therefore it should be around here somewhere." Ivan said. His voice sounded so like a lost child's; it was at odds with his scary appearance. Suddenly, a thought entered Alfred's head and he remembered yesterday when he had first gotten here. It was obvious that none of the soldiers cared about Ivan, but the one yesterday had saluted Alfred, so maybe…?

"Let's see if this works." Alfred said with a sigh. Ivan looked at him oddly, but Alfred just pushed past him and opened the window. Immediately, the soldier stationed outside their window looked their way and saluted. Alfred smiled awkwardly at the young man.

"Hello Tom." Alfred said, then mentally face palmed. Why the hell did he just call the man 'Tom'? He didn't know him! He didn't know his name! But instead of looking offended at being called a random name, the man seemed to glow as if he had just received the best praise.

"Sir." he said, nodding. Alfred pushed his confusion aside; he was a hero and Ivan needed his help!

"I need you to do something for me. See this guy here? When he got here he had a scarf, but it was taken from him. It's very important for him, I'm sure you can understand. So I need you to find it and bring it to me, understand?" Alfred said slowly and clearly.

"Yes, sir." the soldier said. Alfred couldn't believe it. Why was he listening to him.

"Make sure you don't get caught, Tom. I'm counting on you." Alfred said.

"Yes Mr. America." Tom said, nodded, and then turned away; probably to look for the scarf. Alfred closed the window and pulled the curtains shut.

"Mr. America?" Alfred whispered, gasping for breath. Ivan was looking at him in shock as Alfred collapsed onto his bed. His body trembled. What was going on? That was the second time someone had called him America. "What is going on!"

"Come on." Ivan said, grabbing Alfred's arm.

"What?" Alfred asked, trying to shake himself free. He was so confused, and lost, and afraid. Why had the soldier listened to him? Why had he been called America? Was he going insane? Was the doctor telling the truth? Who should he trust? He felt dizzy and sick.

"We need to talk to Arthur. Come on." Ivan said again.

"What if I don't want to talk to your precious Arthur?" Alfred sneered, something that didn't fit him at all.

"Just come on. We told them that they should tell you. You obviously aren't some evil mastermind, you are far too stupid. Now come, next time I have to ask you will break a few bones." Ivan said, keeping his scary little smile on his face throughout it all, creating a rather scary image indeed. Alfred's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet, following Ivan out of the room.

They turned right and walked down the hallway until they reached a door just like all of the others. Ivan knocked on it and after a few minutes Francis opened it, his hair tousled and his body wrapped in a blanket. He yawned before focusing his eyes on who were at his door.

"Arthur isn't here." he said, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Ummm, ew." Alfred said, averting his eyes from Francis.

"Get dressed, we have something important to discuss as soon as we find Arthur." Ivan said. Alfred didn't understand why they had to talk to Arthur and he was becoming curious about whom the hell Francis had been sleeping with, but before he could ask Ivan turned and walked away, dragging Alfred with him. Alfred saw Francis nod and shut the door.

Managing to avoid any people that should have been walking through the halls at that time in the afternoon, it was only 4 pm after all; they reached the room Kiku shared with Danny.

"Arthur said that if he isn't in his room he will most likely be here." Ivan told Alfred just as Alfred opened his mouth to ask. Alfred clamped his mouth shut. Ivan knocked on the door.

"Ivan, what are you doing here?" Kiku asked when he opened the door. His eyes widened when he saw the sulking Alfred. Alfred glared at Kiku, daring him to say something about his current situation.

"We need to talk to Arthur." the Russian replied in a conversational tone, smiling pleasantly. Kiku found himself backing away until he noticed how impolite he was being and invited the pair into the room.

"Unhand me villain!" Alfred shouted as soon as they were in the room. Ivan released him and the sudden lack of someone holding him up made him lose balance. Alfred tumbled to the floor as Ivan laughed quietly. "You are one scary commie." Alfred muttered.

"Russia wasn't communist anymore by the time I was born."Ivan corrected Alfred. Alfred just pushed himself to his feet and huffed like an offended child. How dare the villain drag him here against his will and then attempt to belittle his intelligence! Alfred was very smart.

"What are you two doing here?" a familiar and hated voice asked. Alfred's blue eyes met Arthur's green ones. Alfred had always liked green eyes and Arthur was rather attractive. Wait, what? Arthur was a complete jerk. There was nothing good about him!

"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't tell you." Ivan smiled again. Alfred backed away from the scary Russian, bumping into the wall to avoid him. At that moment someone pounded on the door. Kiku opened it and took a large step back when the door revealed a soldier. Alfred recognized him instantly and he relaxed.

"Hey Tom, did you find what I asked you to?" Alfred asked, walking over.

"Yes, Mr. America, along with some other personal items that may be of use to you." Tom replied. There was a large box on the floor by his feet.

"Good work. Thanks a bunch! Now you should probably go back to your normal work. I'll tell you if I need anything else, okay?" Alfred said. The soldier nodded and walked away. Alfred smiled and picked up the package. He frowned a bit, knowing that the weight should have been too heavy for him, but it was no trouble at all. He set it down in the center of the room.

"What was that?" Arthur asked finally, breaking the silence as Alfred opened the box.

"That was what I wanted to tell you. The soldiers listen to Alfred; they know him for who he is." Ivan said, sounding a bit smug.

"What do you mean by that?" Alfred asked, looking up.

"Oh, do you seriously not know! The man just called you America! How the hell can you stay so ignorant!" Arthur snapped.

"I don't know." was the best that Alfred could come up with.

"You are a representative of a country, America to be exact. Just like the rest of us. There, happy? Now that you _finally _know." Arthur said harshly. Alfred found himself feeling pity and compassion for the others in the room, who now seemed so far gone. That was what they thought? They all really believed something so stupid; so impossible. They were insane. Everyone was!

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Alfred asked quietly. Arthur looked at him confused but it was Kiku who spoke.

"What do you mean, Alfred?"

"I'm sorry; this is a bit much to take, finding out that all of the people around you are going insane!" Alfred said, starting of calmly but slowly turning hysterical.

"What do you mean, going insane?" Arthur demanded.

"He said that all of us would slowly go insane and begin to think of ourselves as countries." Alfred said nervously, remembering Dr. Richards's threat. He chose his words carefully.

"What do you mean? Who did!" Arthur growled at him. Alfred took a deep breath and looked directly into Arthur's eyes as he took a step closer.

"Do you honestly think that something so stupid could be true! Oh, we're countries are we? So now I will hop into my UFO with Tony, my alien friend and go to Japan to make friends with whales so something as stupid like that because that is what the representative of America would do! Am I supposed to talk shit about the rest of you because the many American's are racist? Am I supposed to wear a suit and preach about the economy and then go join the wars in the Middle East! Everything that you are saying as fucking crazy! I knew you were a jerk, even a bastard, but I didn't think you were crazy to go along with it! I even thought that you might be pretty smart! Look how wrong I was!" Alfred yelled.

"Aliens? UFO's? What are you babbling on about!" Arthur yelled back.

"Today some little grey thing appeared and was all like "You are America and I am Tony" and it was like fucking creepy and I'm going crazy like everyone else here!" Alfred yelled. Suddenly the door opened.

"America." the person said. Everyone turned towards them and saw an alien.

"Are you seeing that, Kiku?" Arthur suddenly asked, not daring to turn his eyes away.

"Yes." Kiku replied, eyes wide. Ivan lost his smile and his brow furrowed in confusion. Tony walked towards Arthur.

"Stop being mean to America, fucking limey!" the alien said, glaring at Arthur.

"The thing just swore at me! How dare you call me that! Just try to do it again!" Arthur hissed.

"Limey. Limey. Fucking limey." Tony said. The tension between the two could have been cut with a knife.

"Looks like Tony doesn't like you, huh." Alfred found himself wanting to laugh. He wasn't the only one seeing Tony. Either he wasn't insane and Tony was actually there or, more likely, he was already just as insane as they all were.

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events, da? Do you still think that Alfred is out to spy on us, Arthur?" Ivan asked cheerfully, a threatening aura surrounding him. Alfred was relieved that it was aimed towards Arthur instead of him.

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><p><strong>AN:****So, there was the next chapter. Looks like Alfred feels some physical attraction to our favorite Brit. ^^**

**Thank you for all of the reviews, you guys make writing this fanfiction so much more worth it. It is nice to know that I have so many great readers! You guys are just awesome.**

**Anyway, before I say goodbye to this chapter, I'd like to say that I convinced _Westphalia _to continue her DenNor. With my help the next chapter should be up shortly. I wrote the nightmare that is in the beginning of chapter 2, so that is something to look forward to. I would advise all of you to go check out "I'm an assassin, not a babysitter" and review it so she can get into the writing mood again! **

**Until next time~!**


	9. Mastermind

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. But it's finally here! With new characters!**

**Warning: Swearing**

**Disclaimer:**** Hetalia: Axis Powers TOTALLY belongs to me, like, seriously. Now, actually it doesn't. And I kind of don't want it to. As a fan, I love the fandom, but if I owned it, I would be horrified at the huge and totally CREEPY amounts of yaoi. Or maybe not. I'm not really sure, seeing as I don't own it.**

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><p>"Shut up!" Lovino Vargas, a young man with hazel eyes and brown hair with an unruly curl, hissed at the man standing next to him, who was talking about tomatoes or turtles or something equally as odd. "Do you want us to get caught, you idiot!"<p>

"Sorry Lovi." his companion, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, who was taller than Lovino with short brown hair and green eyes, said apologetically. Lovino rolled his eyes and checked the door they were standing in front of.

"Locked; the stuffy bastard said that it would be. Pass me my key." Lovino ordered. He waited a minute or so before turning around. "Stop staring at me and do what I tell you to do, dammit! Do you want to get caught!"

"Sorry Lovi." Antonio said again, and passed Lovino the curious piece of metal that Lovino called his key. Lovino was about to hit him for calling him that stupid nickname, but he had something important to do first. He forced the thin end into the lock and wiggled it around until he heard a click. He smiled and opened the door.

Fresh evening air flowed in and Lovino leaned forward, taking a deep breath of the afternoon air. He frowned when Antonio nudged him, and then remembered that they were there for a reason. He shut the door and locked it. He frowned sulkily at the locked door before turning around and finding his face smothered in Antonio's chest.

"It's going to be okay, Lovi~! We are going to get out of here. Boss and Austria have a plan~!" Antonio exclaimed. Lovino forced him off.

"You stupid Tomato Bastard; do you _want _us to get caught!" Lovino snapped at him, fuming and trying to pretend that he wasn't blushing furiously. He turned away from Antonio, grabbed the older man's arm, and dragged him back to the large room where they were supposed to have been all along.

Entering the room was a shock to their eyes after the dimly lit hallways and it took a while for their eyes to adjust. They walked through the room, barely noticing the people on either side, all of whom were sitting on metal cots; boys on the right and girls on the left.

There were only three girls in the entire large room. One of them was tan in a blue dress that had once been nice but was now worn. She had long brown hair in two pigtails tied with red ribbons and warm green eyes. She hugged a stuffed animal fish to her and looked at Lovino hopefully. Her name was Chantal Petit.

The next girl's most noticeable feature were her large breasts, but Lovino was used to her and didn't stare. She had short blonde hair held back with pink headband. She wore a cute red dress with a once crisp white and now mainly grey apron over it. Her usual clothing of blue overalls and a white shirt were currently in the wash. She mumbled something about her siblings and looked at Lovino and Antonio with tears in her eyes. Lovino looked away, but not before thoughts of his own brother entered his head. He swore he heard his brother say "Veh~" in that annoying way of his before he shook his head to clear his thoughts. Her name was Ekaterina (though she preferred to be called Katyusha) Braginski.

The third and last girl was younger than the other two. She had short blonde hair cut similarly to that of one of the boys in the room, but in her hair was a dark blue ribbon. She wore a simple pink dress and had odd green eyes that could only be described as shallow. She was looking across the room to her brother. Her name was Lillian (though everyone called her Lili) Amiel.

On the right side of the room was a boy with blonde hair cut in the same style as Lili's, though he was obviously older. He had scary green eyes and a constant frown on his face. He was wearing plain black pants and a white shirt. He glared at Lovino and Antonio. His name was Vash Zwingli. People had often asked why he and his sister had different last names, but they never got the answer.

On the bed next to him was a quiet young man with blonde hair in almost a bowl cut. He wore glasses over blue eyes and wore black pants with a white dress shirt and blue tie. His name was Eduard Von Bock.

On the next bed over was a short young man with messy blonde hair and purple-ish blue eyes that seemed to always be on the verge of tears. He wore a red t-shirt and plain jeans. His name was Raivis Galante.

On the next bed was a tall quiet man with short blonde hair and glasses over light blue eyes. He wore black pants and a blue polo shirt. He had a very creepy aura. His name was Berwald Oxenstierna.

On the next bed over was another young man with chin length blonde hair parted in the middle and green eyes. He was chatting away to no one in particular, just talking to everyone and no one. He wore a silky pink dress shirt and black dress pants. His name was Felicks Łukasiewicz.

The next man was lying sleepily on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He had slightly-longer-than-chin-length messy brown hair with a random curl or two and warm brown eyes so light, they were almost caramel in color. He wore a blue t-shirt and sweat pants. His name was Heracles Karpusi.

Next was a darker skinned man with short messy dark brown hair and the beginnings of a beard. He had eyes that were a color similar to Heracles'. He wore a brown t-shirt and jeans. His name was Sadiq Annan.

They passed the two empty beds that belonged to themselves and reached the last bed. Sitting elegantly on it was a man with brown hair pushed neatly off of his face and purple eyes behind glasses. A piece of hair stuck up of off his head, but otherwise he was neat. His white dress shirt was carefully ironed and tucked seamlessly into his dress pants. This was Roderich Edelstein, or, as Lovino had called him, the Stuffy Bastard.

"Remind me to never send the two of you out again, you made so much noise. I'm sure the entire compound knows what we are up to now." Roderich said with distaste.

"Why you fucking Stuffy Bastard; who d'you think you're talking to?" Lovino demanded angrily.

"Calm down Lovi~. Just let Boss handle this." Antonio said, gently pushing past Lovino to talk to Roderich. "Lovino managed to unlock the door."

"Really?" Roderich asked, looking at Lovino is amazement. Lovino glared at him. "In that case, Sadiq and Heracles, are your preparations complete?"

"Yes." both Sadiq and Heracles said at the same time, turning to glare at each other.

"Vash and Berwald, do you have the weapons you promised to get?" Roderich asked.

"Yes." Vash said seriously while Berwald nodded.

"Lili, Katyusha, and Chantal, do you have food and water packed." Roderich asked.

"Yep!" Chantal said, each of the girls lifted a large pillowcase filled with food and water.

"Eduard, Felicks, and Raivis; do you have clothing packed for everyone?" Roderich asked again.

"Like, of course." Felicks said.

"Good. Very good. In that case, we leave tonight." Austria proclaimed, all the while thinking about a certain albino and a girl with a frying pan that he missed dearly.

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><p><strong>AN:****Woah, woah, woah, what kind of story am I writing here! Austria misses both Prussia _and _Hungary! That's just not right! But it's okay, because I'm going to tell you know what pairings are included and what pairings I need your help on:**

**USUK  
>AusHun<br>FranceXSeychelles (tell me if this is a good idea or not)  
>Spamano<br>PruCan  
>SuFin<br>one sided-BelaRus  
>SwitzerlandXLiechtenstein (also tell me if this is a good idea or not, and before you go after me for incest, well, they have different last names for a reason)<br>GerIta  
><strong>**  
>And the ones that I am having the most trouble with are these:<br>PolLiet (or LietPol) OR RusLiet (though I prefer LietRus, so we will see)? I like both of these pairings.  
>This one depends on the outcome of the one above: RoChu or ChinaXJapan?<br>EstoniaXLatvia OR EstoniaXUkraine (I don't know which one! Any ideas or just "no" in general?) **

**Did you really think that the other nations wouldn't be here? And I still have some MORE to introduce! If you want a particular character that hasn't been introduced yet to be in it and aren't sure if they will be included, feel free to tell me.**

**Woo! I have the best readers ever! I seriously love you guys! And I love your reviews! *hint hint***


	10. Memory Games

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone, I just had some writers block and then I was upset about someones jerky behaviour and then school started, so I've been busy busy busy, but not it's out, Chapter Ten!**

**Disclaimer: Look, up inthe sky! Is is a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a plane carrying my official letter of ownership of Hetalia heading towards me? Awww, what do you mean it's not and that I will never own Hetalia. NOOO YOU LIE!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>"What the bloody hell is going on!" Arthur put his head in his hands as he cried in exasperation. "Four minutes. You have been here for <em>four minutes<em>, Alfred, and already everything is insane. Now this _thing_ is _swearing _at me!"

"Serves you right for being such a jerk!" Alfred said.

"Alfred and Arthur, will you stop arguing and focus on the task at hand. Who is this that just entered the room?" Kiku asked, trying to prevent the argument that was sure to happen.

"Well, this is my alien friend Tony. I don't know where he came from but he appeared a little bit ago and introduced himself." Alfred said, shrugging.

"Where are the others, we need a meeting." England said.

"I told Francis so he should be getting everyone else together." Ivan explained.

"That's good. Now someone get this thing out of here!" Arthur pointed at Tony.

"Hey! Tony is not a thing, he's an alien! And he's staying right here!" Alfred insisted, walking over to where Tony stood. "Right buddy?"

"Yes." Tony replied, looking at Arthur smugly.

"WHY YOU-!" Arthur started yelling when the door opened and everyone filed in save for Danny, who still hadn't returned.

"Al? What are you doing here?" Matthew asked when he saw Alfred. Everyone else also looked at the people in the room confused.

"Veh~ Ludwig, what's that?" Feliciano asked, pointing to Tony.

"This is my awesome alien Tony!" Alfred said before Ludwig spoke.

"An alien? Seriously?" Gilbert asked, walking over to Tony.

"Now is _not _the time! Everyone, take a seat on the floor in a circle. We have things to discuss." Arthur said irritably. Everyone slowly sat down in a circle: Arthur, Francis, Gilbert, Elizaveta, Feliciano, Ludwig, Kiku, Yao, Ivan, Alfred, Tony, and Matthew next to Arthur.

"Now, Ivan has brought something interesting to my attention. Care to tell everyone, Ivan?" Arthur started. Ivan nodded.

"Today I was standing in the room that I share with Alfred mourning the loss of a belonging of mine when he entered the room and demanded, in the annoying hero-complex manner of his, to know what was wrong. After telling him, he went to the window and ordered the soldier to find it for me. Before you make any 'aha!' statements, Arthur, the soldier called Alfred 'Mr. America' and Alfred seemed confused as to what was going on, much like he was following an instinct of some sort. So he can't possibly be a spy, da?" Ivan tilted his head to the side innocently, smiling at the assembled people. Everyone but Alfred and Yao scooted away from him.

"Ah, is that why that man brought us this box?" Kiku asked, pointing to the box that was next to Alfred.

"Da." Ivan replied.

"Let's open it then." Francis said, speaking for the first time since he had entered the room.

"Okay." Alfred said, opening the box and started looking at the contents of the box. The first thing he saw was a light pink scarf, then a pipe followed by a toy panda, then a toy polar bear, four books, a pack of cigarettes, a photo album, and a worn photograph. "I'm guessing this is yours Ivan." Alfred passed the scarf to him.

"So, whose stuffed animal are these?" Alfred took out the panda and polar bear. Yao and Matthew both flushed and reached for their respective stuffed animals. "What about these books?" Arthur eagerly snatched his book of magic while Ludwig looked horribly embarrassed reaching for his book on relationships. Elizaveta shamelessly reached for her manga depicting two men kissing and Kiku reached for his manga as well. "Who here smokes?"

"Danny. He isn't here now though." Elizaveta answered. Alfred nodded and left the cigarettes in the box.

"So now we have a single photo." Alfred pulled out a photograph of two boys that looked very similar. Alfred recognized Feliciano but couldn't name the scowling boy beside him. "I didn't know that you have a brother, Feliciano."

"F-F-Fratello!" Feliciano cried, taking the photograph and pressing it to his heart, tears streaming down his face.

"Now look at what you've done!" Elizaveta snapped at Alfred as she wrapped her arms around Feliciano to comfort him.

"What did I do?" Alfred asked.

"We'll explain later, is there anything else in the box?" Gilbert asked.

"Yeah, a photo album and a pipe." Alfred said, pulling both things out. Gilbert and Francis grabbed the photo album, huge smiles spreading across their faces.

"The pipe is mine, Alfred." Ivan said. Alfred passed it to him, not wanting to know why he had it.

"So now that you all have your stuff, what is it that you've been keeping from me?" Alfred asked.

Arthur took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak: "As you probably know from your talk with Dr. Richards, we were test subjects for an experiment known as the Patriot Experiment. It was meant to harvest certain bits of our DNA in order to create the perfect human for the government, as well as the perfect soldier. We all have an attribute that they wished to combine together to create this superior being, be it simply cosmetic to suit the tastes of the researchers and make the person 'perfect', which means the genes for blonde hair and blue eyes. But they were also using us because some of us had some kind of disease that we were dying from or something of the like to be able to see if they could incorporate anti-bodies into the system to prevent such things in their creations. Instead, the mixture of chemicals and the like jump started our bloods and seemed to build up lost tissue in our brains. And we also, somehow, formed connections to different countries during this process, meaning that all of us are the representatives of countries."

"You're insane." Alfred said, shaking his head after a moment of silence.

"I'm telling the truth. That is what we have gathered over our time here!" Arthur insisted.

"I can't believe this. He said that we would all go insane and believe this, but this is just stupid. I can't believe you guys! Letting your insanity take over so completely! You all don't believe everything that he is saying!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Alfred, you saw for yourself how the soldier acted around you. He knew who you were and were willing to do anything you asked. And how do you explain Tony?" Ivan asked patiently.

"No, just no. This is insane. I don't want to die yet! I haven't lost it yet!" Alfred's breathing speed up as he fell into hysterics.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Ludwig yelled at him. "You are not insane! None of us are!"

"But Dr. Richards—"

"Do you really expect that man to tell you the truth?" Ludwig asked.

"I dunno. Maybe?"

"You idiot." Ludwig sighed, shaking his head.

"Then what is really going on? There were others before the rest of us, where are they?" Alfred asked.

"They were taken away." Arthur replied.

"Taken away? You mean they're dead?"

"No no no, Lovino is still alive!" Feliciano said quietly.

"Lovino?" Alfred asked.

"Feliciano's brother, the other boy in the picture." Kiku explained.

"Ohhhhhh."

Suddenly, the speakers came to life and a voice said "Everyone, please report to Recreational Room one. Once again, please report to Recreational Room one."

"What could that be about?" Alfred asked.

"Who knows, maybe they are on to us." Francis replied.

"Don't even joke like that, frog. Let's just go." Arthur snapped and everyone tickled out of Kiku's room.

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><p><strong><span>AN: Thank you so much for all of the reviews that I got last chapter. I WAS SO HAPPY! You guys are the best! I hope you enjoy this chapter as the story will soon becan to pick up even more speed! Thanks to all of my readers, I love you all. Please review! **


	11. Setting Up Dominoes

**A/N: Shortest chapter I've posted in a while, but I couldn't figure out what else to write. New characters, just to make you wait that much longer for what will happen to our favorite country friends.  
>Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, I would have been signing autographs at aki-con, but I wasn't so I guess I don't own it. How sad.<strong>

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><p>She walked down the dark alley silently, her white-blonde hair streaming behind her and bundled up in a long navy coat and black boots; hand curled tight around a bloodied knife. It should have made her sick to think about what she had just done, but instead she walked with a sense of justice. Those monsters had first taken her sister from her and then proceeded to take her brother as well. She should have known something strange was going on when Ivan's body was unable to be recovered. She was unable to hold a funeral for her dear brother.<p>

But she was happy for now she knew _exactly _what was going on and where to find her brother. And, although she didn't dare to hope, she might find her sister. The circumstances were too similar.

They better not have hurt her brother! If they did they would pay! And then her brother would smile at her again, just like when Katyusha was still around.

Finally she reached the entrance to a shady bar that smelled predominantly of cigarette smoke and alcohol. Outside stood a man in a thick black coat, a black fedora pulled over his eyes.

"Mr. Vargas?" she asked, walking over to him.

"Ms. Alfroskaya?" the man replied. She nodded but scowled at the last name that was different from her older brother and sisters for she was only their half sister. _Which meant should _could _marry Ivan…_ she thought, filing away those thoughts for later.

"You contacted me about my brothers," Mr. Vargas said. "Do you wish to speak in here? I have a private room prepared."

"Yes, that would be favorable." Ms. Alfroskaya nodded and followed Mr. Vargas into the building. The dimly lit bar was filled with shady looking people sitting at the worn table and conversing quietly. The bartender watched Ms. Alfroskaya follow Mr. Vargas from the corner of his eye suspiciously as he wiped the counter but she ignored him, keeping back straight, her head of dazzling white-blonde hair high, and her knife securely in her hand. At the far end of the bar was a door and on either side stood a man in the suit.

Mr. Vargas walked into the room as one of the men opened the door for him but they did not let Ms. Alfroskaya enter.

"You will have to give him your knife." Mr. Vargas said, noticing that he had not been followed into the room.

"I will not enter unarmed unless I am sure that your are unarmed as well." she replied. Mr. Vargas looked at her and seemed to weight his options before unbuttoning his jacket and pulling out a gun. He gave it to the man at the door and looked at her expectantly. She scowled at him and relinquished her knife. This time she was allowed to enter.

This room was much better let than the bar and featured a rectangular table large enough for ten people. They sat at opposite ends of it.

"What do you know about my brothers?" Mr. Vargas asked right away, getting down to business.

"Now now, I won't give information to anyone that is a stranger to me. Let us get to know each other first. My name is Natalia Alfroskaya. My brother, Ivan Braginski, and my sister Ekaterina Braginski, died in the hospital and their remains were unable to be returned to me. Now, who are you and what is your brother's story?" Mr. Vargas looked at her incredulously before shrugging and removing his fedora. Natalia was surprised at how young he was, he looked to be 16, her age. He had green eyes and light brown hair, almost blonde, with an oddly square-ish curl curling off of his head to the right.

"My name is Durante Vargas. My older brothers Lovino Vargas and Feliciano Vargas also died in the hospital and I could not recover their remains. I've been suspicious about this ever since." he replied.

"How curious and over the phone you told me that it was the same hospital?" Natalia asked.

"Yes." Durante nodded.

"Very curious indeed." Natalia nodded.

"But so what? What is so important about this? Would do you think this means?" Durante asked, not even trying to hide his amusement. Natalia felt her anger spike and reached for her knife only to remember that it wasn't there. Durante smirked at her.

"What is important is that I think this is connected! I don't think our siblings are dead!" Natalia said.

"And why do you think this?" Durante asked. Natalia pulled a video camera out of her bag and stood up, walking over to Durante's side of the table.

"My family has a cabin in the mountains and after a string of robberies in the area, Ivan insisted on setting up security cameras. I was up there recently trying to cope with his death and saw this." she played a video.

In the video a tall man with white-blonde hair stumbled through a clearing, clutching a pipe to his body and soaking wet. He looked around wildly as the camera adjusted to his face and they saw half-crazed eyes, like a hunted animal. The sound of barking dogs sounded in the back ground and he took off again, gone as abruptly as he had come. A minute or two later, a squad of about 8 men appeared, each holding onto the leash of a hunting dog, trying not to be pulled off after it, so insane the dogs were with the excitement of their hunt. Then the video ended.

"And what does that mean?" Durante asked. Natalia took out her wallet and showed him a picture.

"This is my brother." she said. He gasped, looking at the picture of the happily smiling man sitting between a woman with large breasts and short blonde hair and another young woman who was unmistakably Natalia.

"That's insane!" he said.

"Tell me about it." she replied.

"So what now?" Durante asked.

"Now? Now we find out where they are being kept." Natalia replied.

"How do you know that he was caught? He might have escaped." Durante said.

"Stop asking stupid questions! Look at those dogs. Of course he was caught. I just hope he is still alive after that encounter."

"I guess so. But why would this be happening?"

"I have no idea, but we are going to find out. You'll help me, right Durante." Natalia fixed her eyes on him in a hard glare and he found himself backing away from her, trying to force himself into his chair.

"O-Of course! We'll get the rest of my family involved to! I will talk to my grandfather, but I'm sure that you have our support. Everyone misses Feliciano and even Lovino even though he was an ass!"

"Good. You have my number, correct?" Natalia asked. Durante nodded. "Call me when your family has an answer." Then, she walked out.

Durante let out a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. "Heh, Natalia Alfroskaya? I've never had a Russian chick before. She's scary but damn, she's hot. I guess I'll see where this goes…" he mumbled to himself before pulling out his cell phone.

"Grandfather? Yes, this is Durante. I've received some information about my brothers. It seems there is still hope left."

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><p><strong><span>AN: Thank you all once again for all of the reviews! It made me so happy to see that you guys haven't abandoned me and still support this story!**

**Also, Durante is Seborga. I wasn't going to inclube micronations until the sequel (yes, there will be a sequel, actually this story started because I had an excellent idea for a sequel to SOMETHING, I just had to write the something first) but I wanted to bring Belarus in and the mafia, because I love Italy Mafia stories, but this one will be a very unique mafia indeed. Like the Eastern European mafia in my town, but if you want to hear about _that _you will have to ask me in a review.**

**And it appears that I am setting the stage for some SeborgaXBelarus. What an odd crack pairing, but whatver, it will be fun to write. **

**Also, I was at Aki-con on Saturday. Did any of my readers go? If you did, you might have seen me (or even complimented my shirt), I was wearing a shirt with chibi Iggy on it. So yeah. It was a lot of fun.**

**Thanks for sticking with me! Until next time, my dear readers!**


	12. World on Fire

**A/N: So this is the next chapter. I hope you guys like it! **

**Disclaimer:**** If I owned Hetalia, I would be rich and famous and popular and Hetalia would be much more serious that it actually is. **

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><p>He stood, panting. His glasses lost, turning the world into a green world. His two companions also panted and looked around nervously.<p>

"Alfred?" one asked. He recognized the voice and looked to his left, seeing the blurry form of Arthur.

"Yeah. You're Arthur, right? And who is this?" Alfred looked to his right and saw the blurred form of a man with wavy brown hair.

"Toris; I was introduced before…" he trailed off, not wanting to speak.

Images and sounds flashed before Alfred's eyes. The sound of gunshots, the horrified look on Kiku's face, Danny yelling, and shattering glass followed by the strangled cry of 'Alfred!' from the person currently at his left.

"Right. I've only been there a few days but this is the third newcomer after me. This is just insane. What the hell is going on! Where are the others?" Alfred shouted the ending, bringing his hands to his face.

"Calm down! We'll figure this out!" Arthur said. "Now is not the time to have a tantrum, I saw we sit down and think about things for a bit."

"Umm, that sounds like a good idea." Toris agreed.

Hey all sat down and took in the others appearances. Blood was splattered across Alfred's shirt, but it was not his own. His hair was messy and his clothes covered in mud and dirt. The strand of hair that normally stuck straight out of his head was drooping. Arthur didn't look much better; he had jagged cuts along his arms from where he had smashed the glass, his clothes were torn and stained, his hair messier than usual. Toris' hair had bits of bushes sticking out of it and he was just as battered as the others.

"Here." Arthur said, reaching into his shirt pocket and handing something to Alfred. The right lens was cracked, but it was better than nothing.

"Thanks! I don't know what I would do if I couldn't see." Alfred said gratefully, donning the damaged pair and smiling at his companions. It was a moment of peace in their nightmare that didn't last long.

They jumped to their feet at the sound of barking dogs and took off, running farther into the forest. The sound gradually disappeared behind them as the evening gave way to night. They huddled together at the base of a large tree.

Alfred tried to fight back the flashes of memory attacking him. Kiku looking at him, calling for help, everyone else scattering; Francis falling, grasping his side and watching blood pour out of the wound. Chaos, madness. He remembered the five strangers with blonde hair, looking at them emotionlessly. Alfred felt the urge to barf and someone staggered out of the bush.

The trio jumped to their feet and grabbed the sticks that they had found along the way. They were exhausted, mentally and physically.

The figure fell to the ground before them and Alfred saw that it wasn't one person, but five. Ivan was carrying Yao carefully and Gilbert was carrying Francis with Matthew tagging along. Francis and Yao gave out groans of pain once they met the earth with the others. They looked as exhausted and dirty as the others.

"Mattie! Ivan!" Alfred exclaimed, running over to his 'brother' and his roommate.

"Al? Thank God you're okay!" Matthew exclaimed and the two who had only known each other for a day hugged as if they had known each other their entire lives.

"What happened to them?" Alfred asked, looking at Francis and Yao.

"Francis got shot back at the facility and Yao got bitten when we ran into three of the hunting dogs. Ivan took care of them." Matthew pointed at Ivan's bloodied pipe.

"Those fucking bastards! I swear, if I run into even one of those fucking shits I'll-I'll-!" Alfred punched one of the nearby trees and a crater was left deep in the bark where his fist had connected with the trunk.

"Al! Calm down!" Matthew exclaimed as Alfred took in a long shaky breath and stared at his fist.

"This is _not _happening. It isn't! This is all a dream, right? Soon, I'm gonna wake up in the hospital room and they'll tell me that everything will be okay, that I will live. Right? _Right_!" Alfred fell to his knees and put his face in his hands after looking at the others around him, all injured some way or another.

"Will you stop crying, Alfred! Pull yourself together and we'll figure out what to do!" Arthur snapped at him.

"Let's make camp." Ivan suggested, looking up from Yao to speak for the first time since his arrival.

"That sounds like a good idea. Why don't you guys sleep and I stay up for watch? I don't think I could sleep anyway." Alfred said, looking up.

"We should have two people up. They could keep each other awake." Gilbert said thoughtfully, looking around as if he had been in this kind of situation before.

"I'll do it." Arthur said before anyone else could speak. The others nodded and huddled together for heat before falling asleep. Alfred and Arthur were left in darkness and silence.

Alfred laid back onto the dirt ground, not caring if his clothes got even dirtier than they already were, and looked up at the sky through gaps in the tree above him. He was reminded of another night, years and years ago. A night that he knew he should not be able to remember.

_He was young, very young, and was skipping in the woods in front of another, an older brother hidden in shadows._

_"Be careful America! There are many creatures in the forest that aren't very friendly." His older brother, England, called after him. America just laughed and ran faster into the woods. England laughed at the boys antics and took off running after him. They chased each other through the woods that covered most of America's, and therefore England's, land. England finally caught America and they tumbled to the floor, laughing as they went._

_"Look at the sky, England!" America said when he found himself lying on his back, looking up through the branches. Evening was falling quickly and what was seen of the sky glowed with pinks and purples and oranges and a deep blue._

_"That is a beautiful sunset." England nodded, smiling at the amazing look on the small Nation's face._

_"Yep!" America agreed, never wanting to get up. They lay there until the dark settled in completely and the sounds of night creatures filled the forest and America fell asleep._

With a snap, Alfred's eyes flew open and he sat up, breathing heavily. America? England? He was going insane! Arthur was about his age, he wouldn't have been that old when Alfred was four or five! And they weren't countries!

"Hmm. I was wondering when you would wake up." he heard a voice, the same from his dream, say.

"I wasn't sleeping! I was going through some memories! That's all." Alfred said, his face flushing with embarrassment.

"What memories?" Arthur asked.

"Why do you care?" Alfred asked back.

"Because we have to keep each other awake and we can't do that if we're sitting here silently like a pair of shoes!"

"A pair of shoes?"

"Just forget it!" Arthur snapped, turning around.

There were a few moments of silence before Alfred spoke: "I was remembering a day in the forest, so long ago. Probably in the 1600's, but I dunno. I was a little kid, running through the forest, and you called me America. I thought of you as my big brother and called you England and we had fun, just playing in the forest. Do you think that I'm going insane, Arthur? Remembering something like that, something that never happened."

"I don't think that you're insane, Alfred. I remember that too." Arthur said slowly. Alfred smiled at him; when he wasn't yelling at him, Arthur was actually very cute and nice.

"That's nice to hear. Do you think the others are okay?"

"I hope so, I really do."

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><p><strong><span>AN: I don't usually do this, acknowlegde a particular person in the author note, but I feel that I should share this. The amazing Nekoirma told me that she will draw fanart for this fic and I'm so excited! So yeah.**

**I'm so amazed at how many people like this fanfic and I hope you liked the chapter and will stick with me until the end of this. I love all of your reviews and will always reply to them, but sometimes it may be a little late. Thank you guys so much for making this an amazing expirience and I will 'see' you next chapter!**


	13. Choices

**A/N: Since I love you guys and since I wanted this up, I present you with chapter 13!**

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><p>Arthur and Alfred sat together in silence, both lost in thought and struggling to stay awake after their exhausting day.<p>

Alfred wondered who those five blonde strangers had been and what they had to do with the experiment. One of the doctors had called them successes, but what did that mean? Were they the people created with harvested genetic material?

His memory of the events that had happened before they escaped was choppy. Why hadn't they been shot at? How had they gotten past the gates? How did they reach this forest if Alfred had never seen any trees outside? He turned to ask Alfred when he heard something in the bushes.

The heavy breathing of something not human sounded and Alfred heard growling.

"WAKE UP YOU GUYS!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping to his feet. Ivan immediately stood up and grabbed Yao while Gilbert did the same to Francis and Matthew quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

They heard gunshots in the distance and screaming.

"LUDWIG!" they heard Feliciano's voice and didn't look at each other before scattering in different directions. Toris ran after Ivan and Yao one way, Matthew ran after Gilbert and Francis in another, and Alfred followed Arthur a third way.

They ran farther and farther into the forest, trying to be as silent as possible. They couldn't be found. They just couldn't! Eventually, after maybe an hour of running, they stopped. Sweat coated them and soaked through their clothes, making them shiver from the cool night air as their bodies cooled down. They knew that they couldn't stop, so they started again, walking this time.

Alfred and Arthur eventually reached a clearing and stopped in fear and nervousness. In the clearing stood two of the five strangers from before; one was tall with blonde hair and cold blue eyes, a scary aura similar to Ivan's surrounded him. He was dressed in jeans tucked into black boots and a black jacket and wore glasses. The other man was shorter than the first, with light blonde hair and purple eyes. He was also wearing jeans, black boots, and a black jacket.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked, stepping forward and breaking the silence. The two strangers looked at each other and Alfred couldn't help but start making comparisons. The first man's eyes and hair color reminded him very much of Ludwig, and he was about as tall as Ivan with the same scary aura. The smaller man's body was similar to Matthew's, with the same purple eyes. He was about 70% sure that they weren't normal people.

Neither of the strangers answered and Alfred wondered if they could even talk.

"I am Tino." the shorter one finally said, the syllables rolling off his tongue uncertainly.

"Hello Tino, my name is Alfred." Alfred said, flashing Tino as smile. Tino blinked before smiling at Alfred.

"Why are you out here?" Alfred asked, Arthur looked at him incredulously, wondering why Alfred was asking that particular question.

"We were ordered to capture you and bring you back." Tino replied.

"Alfred-" Arthur hissed. Alfred shook his head and motioned for Arthur to stay quiet, and Arthur looked on, confused.

"Do you like being ordered and told what to do?" Alfred asked. Tino looked confused and looked at the taller, still unnamed, man in confusion. The other man just shrugged at him.

"What do you mean?" Tino asked.

"Tell me, do you _really_ want to bring us back there? Answer me. If you really truly do want to capture us, I will let you take me without a fight."

"Alfred! You can't be serious!" Arthur shouted.

"I'm 100 percent serious, Arthur," Alfred replied calmly. "I am a hero, right?"

"You idiot! I am not staying around for you to get us captured!" Arthur spun around and fled the clearing. Alfred looked after him; watched Arthur's back leaving him in the dark, and fought back memories that threatened to overcome him.

"So, what do you say? I just destroyed any positive relationship I could'a had with him, so what's gonna happen now? Are the pair of you ready to cart me back?" Alfred asked Tino and the other man.

Tino looked at Alfred and his companion nervously, unsure what to say. Perhaps he had never been trained with how to deal with this kind of situation? Finally, he looked at Alfred with a look in his eyes that could only be apologetic before stepping toward Alfred and pulling out what looked to be a pair of handcuffs.

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><p>As Arthur ran, he cursed at Alfred's stupidity. There was no way he would return for the idiot if he did get captured. What was he thinking, trying to get them to switch sides! There was no way that would work! Alfred was probably being dragged through the forest back to the facility, blood dripping from gunshot wounds. The thought made him stop his suddenly in his running, his heart beginning to hurt at the thought of Alfred, the one who almost always smiled regardless of the circumstance, pale and hurt, possibly even dead. The thought brought him more memories similar to the one from just a few hours ago when he ran after a young Alfred through the woods.<p>

_When he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, England jumped to his feet and hurried out of his house. He had to get to America as fast as possible. His heart was torn with concern for America and how the war would be affected by the attack, and bitterness knowing that Japan, his friend _Japan_, was responsible for this. _

_ He used a way of travel particular to the Nations, opening a door in empty space and walking out in America's bedroom. He couldn't help but blush at where the door had opened for he had only thought of getting to wherever America was and realized how embarrassing it would have been had America been in the bathroom…he forced the thought out of his head and hurried to America's bedside._

_ "America! I heard about the attack! Are you okay?" England said, seeing America lying in his bed, his face pale. _

_ "England, what are you doing here? Why are you worried about me? I'm the hero, remember? And you've been through worse than this. Hell, I've been through worse than this! So yeah, I'm fine. Just a little-" he winced a bit as he forced himself to his up, "sore." _

_ England looked at him for a moment before a fond smile found itself on his face. "You idiot." he said, though there was no ill intention behind those words. What had made him react that way? Of course he knew that America had been through worse. And he himself was also in pain at the moment, from constantly fighting off attacks from Germany. The only idiot there was him._

Arthur looked around, ashamed that he had zoned out like that. That kind of thing would get him captured and he couldn't allow that to happen. He had to find the others. He had to organize them. Then they would all make a plan and get out of here with no more casualties. They had to think strategically. But a part of him couldn't help but wonder what had happened after the event in his provided memories and why he had felt so worried for the idiot once upon a time.

He started running again, listening for any sound that could lead him to some of the others.

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><p>"Gilbert, please tell me again why we are in a tree." Matthew asked, looking at Gilbert who was trying to carefully balance the injured Francis on a few tree branches.<p>

"This way the dogs can't get us, obviously." Gilbert replied.

"So in order to escape the dogs, you want it to become easier to shoot us? Francis is injured, we're all in a tree. Personally, I'd rather brave the dogs then wait up here for someone to come shoot us." Matthew said with surprising forwardness. He was usually so quiet and just let things happen, but he _really _didn't want to die. Especially since he was pretty sure that he had already died before this and the first time hadn't been very fun.

"Fine, if you can't appreciate the awesomeness of my plan, then leave." Gilbert said, turning away from Matthew.

"What? I'm not going out into this mess by myself!" Matthew exclaimed.

"Then you are just gonna have to deal with my plan." Gilbert said smugly. Matthew groaned and leaned back against the trunk of the tree, looking at Francis worriedly for he hadn't made any sound in at least half an hour. Matthew noticed three people walk under their tree.

All three of them had blonde hair. One was taller than the other, his blonde hair was spiky and he wore jeans tucked into black boots and a zipped up black jacket, the same outfit as the other. One of the others had light blonde hair with an odd curl much like Feliciano's sticking out of it. The last had white hair.

"Man, this is so fucking stupid. I don't want to do this. Why do we have to do this? Don't you feel sorry for these guys we're looking for?" the tall on whine. The one with the odd curl sighed.

"Matthias, you have been complained about this the entire time we've been here. You know very well why we have to do this."

"Put I'm tiiiiiired. Can't we at least take a break? We can sit under that tree. Come on Magnus, please. Please please _please_! For just a little bit. I'm so tiiiired."

"Fine, if it makes you shut up!" the shorter one, Magnus, snapped. The tall one, Matthias, made a noise of happiness and loudly plopped down onto the ground just below their tree. Neither Gilbert nor Matthew dared to move.

The one with white hair looked around before sitting down as well and Magnus joined them soon after.

At that moment, when everything was silent in the forest, was the moment Francis decided to make some kind of noise. He groaned in pain and mumbled something in his pain-induced sleep, causing three pairs of eyes to look up at the people hiding in a tree.

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><p>Ivan and Toris walked in silence, Toris cringing at the scary aura around Ivan. Ivan carried Yao carefully, trying to make as little movement as possible. The bite in Yao's leg left him unable to walk and very much in pain. Thankfully, the blood had stopped, but the sleeve of Ivan's jacket that they had tied the wound with was soaked through with blood. It was too easy for the dogs to follow them this way.<p>

Ivan's mind was rushing through ideas. He could leave Yao and save himself, but he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he had to bear Yao's death on his shoulders. He already bore his sisters. No, his only option was to untie it and leave it hanging somewhere to distract any dogs in the area towards the seemingly unmoving target.

"Toris, can you untie the rag off of Yao's leg?" Ivan asked, looking at the quiet man. Toris shivered under Ivan's gaze and nodded, taking hold of the parts of what used to be Ivan's sleeve that weren't soaked in blood and untying it. He seemed to understand what Ivan wanted and tied the rag tightly onto a branch before hurrying after Ivan.

Ivan stopped and Toris walked into his back. Ivan looked behind him at Toris and frowned with disapproval before walking a few steps forward. He looked to his left over the bushes that grew there and saw familiar blonde hair.

"Arthur?"

"Ivan! I'm so glad I'm found you!" Toris and Ivan heard Arthur say, and then they heard footsteps muffled by the forest floor. The bush rustled and Arthur emerged on their side, a few scratches from the bush and some leaves stuck to him, a twig sticking out of his hair.

"What happened? Where's Alfred?" Ivan asked.

"I don't know. I left him when we ran into two strangers. I think that he's been captured." Arthur answered.

"That is worrisome. How do we rescue him?" Ivan said.

"We don't, we find the others. I know that a while ago I heard Feliciano and he was with Ludwig then. I'm guessing that everyone else is there too. Gilbert, Matthew, and Francis are most likely together; I believe that they ran in the same direction earlier. So everyone appears to be safe except for Alfred."

"We are not rescuing Alfred?"

"What's more important? Your life and freedom or Alfreds?"

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><p><strong><span>AN: So what do you guys think? There was supposed to be more to the first part with Alfred, Tino, and Berwald, but I decided to cut it short so it all doesn't happen to quickly. **

**For people that are confused about how they got outside and stuff, it will all be explained later and I will provide you with flashbacks, which were provided in the last chapter, for you to put the pieces togethor and try to figure it out.**

**So, I have some questions for you:**

**What should Berwald do in the first part? Does he stop Tino because he wants free will or does he take Alfred back to the facility?  
>Do Matthew and Gilbert get shot at or do they get found by Arthur, Ivan, Yao, and Toris just in the nick or time?<br>What do you think of Norway's name (Magnus) and what should Iceland's name be?  
>What choice should Ivan make.<strong>

**Though I have idea's for most of this, I want to know my reader's opinions because they are important to me. **

**Also, there are some awesome readers of mine that deserve mention and they are Nekoirma, JxxXCara-JoXxxK, 18dustyrose, and Funky Bracelet Chick who make writing this fanfic awesome. So I thought I would mention them.**

**Now how about some reviews? I makes me very happy when I get reviews! There are some readers that I haven't heard from in a while. Did you guys lose interest?**


	14. Of Family Reunions and Memories

**A/N: Here is the newest chapter! I hope you guys like it. I know that the last chapter had some errors and I'll go back and fix them as soon as I can. I hope you enjoy!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, it would be inappropriate for** **me to mention that I like it at school because it would be too filled with yaoi.**

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><p>The next day found Natalia and Durante sitting in the back room of the bar where they had met last time. This time, papers were scattered across the table and several laptops were open as the pair researched. They had started several hours ago and were growing frustrated. Every once in a while, Durante sent an appreciative glance at Natalia's low-cut shirt.<p>

"I've found it!" Natalia cried suddenly, startling Durante.

"What?" Durante asked. The last time they had found something of importance was two hours ago and he had begun to lose hope.

"I've found more information on this 'Patriot Experiment' as well as where the headquarters are." Natalia said proudly. She pointed to a map on her laptops screen where a single red dot was labeled "Pacific Northwest Facility".

"So now we go there and demand information?"

"No, now we stake the place out."

"Stake it out? Why?"

"We need to make sure that our brothers are actually there. Now look at this," Natalia zoomed into the map using the magic that is Google Maps. "The surrounding area for about a mile is completely empty of trees, but otherwise the facility is in the middle of a thick forest; a lot of tall trees to hide in. Then there is this smaller gated area about ten miles from the large facility. It appears to be made up of smaller buildings. Our brothers could be in either place."

"So where do we go?"

"The larger facility first, let's go. It should only take four hours."

"Wait! We can't go yet! We need to get back up?"

"Back up?"

"Yes, I need to call my grandfather."

"Hurry up then!" Natalia snapped impatiently as Durante took out his cell phone. After several minutes of rapid Italian that Natalia couldn't even dream of understanding, Durante smiled and hung up. "Well?"

Durante smiled at Natalia and swept her into a hug, lifting her off of her feet. "This is great, Nat! Grandpa said that he will send back up to help us! We'll have our brothers back soon!" Natalia blushed into the hug and smiled at the nickname, but her face returned to normal when Durante set her down.

"That is good news. When will they get here?" Natalia asked.

"They're already here! They were waiting for us." Durante said, unable to keep the smile off of his face as he looked into the eyes of his attractive acquaintance.

"Then what are we sitting around for? I have my precious older brother to rescue!" Natalia said, walking out the door. Durante stood for a few seconds and watched her before following her into the bar.

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><p>At eleven in the evening, Natalia and Durante were starting to wonder the practicality of leaving so late. They, and five other cars of two people each, had split up upon entering the forest surrounding the facility and were now waiting until they could find a clearing to meet up in. According to the GPS in Durante's car, they were nearing the second, smaller, facility and had gotten no information from the ten others in the forest with them.<p>

Suddenly the car hit something in the road and one of the tires exploded. Durante grabbed Natalia's arm and turned off the car. He got out to look at his tires and swore, the front two were popped and he couldn't figure out how the hell it could have happened. Natalia stepped out of the car as well, the hood of her rain coat pulled up against the cold.

"Stop where you are. You are surrounded and we are armed. Make any offensive move and we will shoot you down." a familiar voice said from behind the pair, they both quickly turned around. A group of maybe a dozen people stood there, each holding a gun or blade of some sort. The one who had spoken stood in the middle and Durante's eyes widened in reorganization.

"Lovino?" Durante asked in surprise. "You're alive!"

"Wait, Lovino? Like, your missing brother?" Natalia asked.

"That's right."

"Natalia?" a female voice suddenly said and another person walked into view.

"Katyusha? But, you're dead!" Natalia gasped.

"Katyusha? I thought you were looking for your brother, Nat."

"I am! I didn't think my sister would be here too! I've missed you so much!" Natalia ran to Katyusha and gave her a hug.

The hug lasted maybe a minute before the reunited sisters pulled away from each other. "What did he mean that you are looking for out brother?" Katyusha asked.

"Ivan was injured in a car accident and taken to Harborview but died there. They wouldn't give me back his body, just like when you died." Natalia explained.

"Oh no! That would mean that he's in the facility!" Katyusha exclaimed, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"So he's not with you?"

"I would have known if he was with us! We're a separate group for certain reasons. I think we should all get together somewhere safer and talk about this. What do you think, Roderich?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Ekaterina. This is hardly a safe place though." Roderich said. At that moment Durante's cell phone rang. Lovino smiled when he heard his younger brother talking in fast Italian, but it quickly disappeared when he caught Antonio looking at him.

"One of my grandfathers men have found a clearing where we can all meet up. They will come pick us up and we can head out." Durante said. The group of thirteen smiled, things were looking up.

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><p>"What's more important; your life and freedom or Alfred's?"<p>

Seconds after yelling that, Arthur fell to the ground, clutching his head. The world around him disappeared and was replaced by a new scene.

_England and America walked together through England's house. The war had ended over a decade before but they both had a feeling that their solutions would only lead to more problems. Tension between America and Russia were growing and the world was growing nervous. England had been surprised to find a very stressed out America at his door._

_ "Thanks for letting me in, Iggy. I'm just so stressed right now!" America said, for once not babbling about aliens and fast food._

_ "I can tell. The entire world is 'so stressed right now'." England said. They had reached England's living room and America had plopped down onto the couch._

_ "What should I do? My people and my president keep telling me to do this and do that, but personally I just want to give it a rest, you know?"_

_ "You have to obey your boss, America. Your boss and your people always go first, regardless of what you personally want." _

_ "I know. We covered this lesson back in colonial times, Iggy."_

_ "Will you stop calling me that! Where did you get that anyway?"\_

_ "I remembered Japan calling you Iggy-something way back when and I thought it fit you." America smiled at England. England shook his head at his former colony._

_ "Stop calling me 'Iggy'."_

_ "IGGY. IGGY. IGGY. IGGY!" America shouted. England frowned in annoyance. _

_ America was shocked when he felt England's lips on his own. Slowly, his eyes closed and he allowed the kiss to continue, his hands finding his way around England's neck, not allowing him to break away. America pulled England down onto the couch over him and flipped them over so that he was on top. He opened his mouth and deepened the kiss. As England's hands tangled themselves into America's hair, America's hands wandered down England's body. _

_ He reached the bottom of England's shirt and worked his hands under it. They parted for breath and America moved his mouth to England's neck. He stopped at random to suck on the delicate skin and left his mark all over England's neck. England moaned as his own hands wandered town America's body, exploring it slowly._

_ "England." America whispered against England's neck, causing England to shiver. "Arthur." England smiled at the use of his name then gasped as America bit his neck._

"Arthur!" Ivan shouted and Arthur jumped up, returning to the present. His thoughts were in turmoil and the only thing that he could think was that they had to find him. They had to find America; which meant that they had to find Alfred!

"I'm alright." Arthur said, blushing as he remembered America's touch. Now was hardly the time to remember such things!

"You must stay healthy, Arthur, Collapsing is not 'alright'. What happened?" Ivan demanded, his creepy aura returning.

"I experienced another memory, that is all." Arthur said, not meeting Ivan's eyes.

"It must have been quiet the memory," Ivan said. "Considering the noises you were making." Arthur's face turned an even brighter red and he looked away, wishing that he had been anywhere but there.

"That's beside the point. We're going back for Alfred." Arthur said, walking off in the direction he had come from and leaving Ivan and Toris with a good idea of what the memory had been of.

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><p><strong><span>AN: What did you think about the USUK? I know that it wasn't much, but it is a taste of what will come in this story soon. Poor Arthur, by the way, I don't think that Ivan will ever let him live that down.**

**So, it has been agreed that Alfred will be saved, but will he have to be? Will Matthew and Gilbert suffer the same fate as Francis, being injured and stuck in a tree, or will they die? Where are the others and what happened to Ludwig that made Feliciano shout for him? How did Roderich's group escape? How did Arthur's group escape? So many questions...**

**Reviews are love so please leave some. They make me very happy!  
><strong>


	15. Four Down

**A/N:**** Sorry for the long wait! I was very busy and couldn't get around to finishing up this chapter but I hope you guys like it! We're finally getting very close to some more main points that will reveal a lot more information. And we're getting closer to Berwald's choice and the fate of Matthew, Francis, and Gilbert.**

**Disclaimer: Please, if I own Hetalia: Axis Powers and all related names and characters, the original would not be in Japanese and England probably wouldn't have shouted "DOUBLE-0-NINJA!" in the dub of the movie, though the dub is amazing, surprisingly.**

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><p>"What do you want?" the man said to the woman cowering in the chair in front of him.<p>

"I, well, I wanted you to know that I've, umm, gotten the money that I owe you." she replied, forcing the words out of her mouth.

"Have you now? How much?" he asked.

"15 thousand." she replied.

"15 thousand dollars? As in the amount you owed me nineteen years ago?"

"Yes."

"That isn't enough."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that that is the amount you owed me _before _I took you in and raised your son."

"But you never mentioned that!"

"You never asked."

"So what do I owe you?"

"You'll never be able to afford it."

"_How much_?"

"About 200 thousand." the man said. The woman gasped at the sum and brought her hands to her face. She had been so close. So close to being free, so close to being able to find out where her other son was, the one she hadn't seen since he was born, and so close to finding out why she hadn't gotten her dead sons body back. So close. But now, she was as far behind as when she had started. "Do you really want to get rid of me so easily? Is this the thanks and appreciation I receive after looking after your son like any father would? For going to every parent conference and sports game; every birthday party and midnight video game release?"

"Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate it. But now he is dead and I had hoped that he would be free in death."

"…leave my sight."

"What?"

"You heard me, woman! Leave my sight! _Get out_!" he yelled at her and she scurried out of the room, knocking over her chair in the process. The man sighed and was about to return to his work but the picture on his desk caught his eye. He glared at the blue eyed blonde haired boy who smiled at him from within the simple frame and knocked the frame down so he no longer had to look at the photograph.

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><p><strong><em>*This takes place earlier than the events going on in the story right now.*<em>**

This wasn't his first time in isolation and he knew that they, they people who ran this hell-hole, liked to fuck with their victims heads. Sensory deprivation was a technique that they liked to use to force anyone who caused trouble to return to their 'proper' place.

The room was completely dark and the temperature of the room was such that it was neither warm nor cold, just a hideous nothing. The air was filtered carefully to prevent any detectable smells from finding his nose. This body was forced into a thick rubbery suit that didn't allow him to feel anything around him.

He had vague memories of what resided outside the door. He remembered an argument, whatever that was, with a new kid, a kid with blonde hair (what kind of hair was that?) and blue eyes (was blue even a color or a figment of his imagination?). Where was he new to? What was going on again?

He clung onto any part of him that was still coherent. "Dammit, being in solitude is _not _fucking good for me!" he shouted, his voice sounding funny in his cotton-stuffed ears.

He relaxed against wall that he knew was behind him, even though he couldn't feel it, and allowed his mind to wander as he closed his eyes. _Just like sleeping…_ he told himself to keep the hysteria away as he went through his memories carefully, going over every sunny day spent at the beach and every snowball ever thrown; his first bottle of beer and his first cigarette; his first girlfriend and his first kiss; every fight he had ever gotten into while growing up and ice cream, the thing he held nearest and dearest in his heart, well, almost. Almost unbidden, a memory moved to the forefront of his mind.

_"Miguel Suarez, promise me something." his mother demanded with such strength in her voice it was as if she hadn't spent the last four months slowly turning to nothing on her bed._

_ "Yes, mama?" he asked in the quiet manner he had adopted specifically for her bedside. _

_ "I don't want you to ever let anyone take advantage of you." she said seriously._

_ "I won't, promise." he said._

_ "And…" she began, looking away._

_ "Yes?"_

_ "I want you to change your name."_

_ "Why?"_

_ "I've always likes the name 'Danny', it is very American. And '__Rodriguez' is a good last name, a strong one. And common, easy to hide with." she said, not answering his question. _

_ "Excuse me, but it's time for me to administer some more pain killers." a nurse said, entering the room. Miguel nodded and left the room. A week later, his mother passed away, never explaining why she wanted him to change her name. He honored her request and changed his name to 'Danny Rodriguez', moving from the apartment he had lived in with his mother and leaving Miguel Suarez behind, except for a single necklace in the shape of a circle with 'Miguel' engraved on it, a gift from his mother for his last birthday._

He sighed and sent a prayer of thanks to his mother for advising him for a name change. A month after leaving his old neighborhood, he discovered that people were looking for him, scientists and doctors responsible for a strange experiment called 'The Patriot'.

He smiled a bit, glad that he had overcome the insanity that had consumed him just a while before. Maybe they wouldn't be able to get anything out of here this time, since he was still coherent. He moved his head into a comfortable position and tried to fall asleep. Suddenly, the lights turned on and he closed his eyes, blinded.

"We are here to ask you some questions about your roommate, Kiku." A familiar man's voice said.

**_*Present time in story*_**

Danny looked down at the two unconscious bodies laying on the cave floor. Kiku hadn't woken up since everyone had been gathered into a room and he had been shot at. His breathing was shallow and uneven and Danny was afraid that he wouldn't survive much longer. Next to him lay Ludwig, who had continued to fight and kept running even when four dogs had jumped on him until he had been shot at and Danny had had to drag him to safety. Feliciano refused to leave Ludwig's side.

They had cleaned off the blood as much as possible, but without medical care the pair wouldn't live until morning. Who knew what kind of diseases those dogs had. Ludwig was probably slowly dying from infection right now. And there Danny sat, unable to do anything and feeling as though this was all his fault.

"It's going to be okay, Feli. Ludwig and Kiku will make it." Danny heard Elizaveta whisper to Feliciano and he frowned at her. She shook her head and motioned for him to remain silent.

"R-r-really?" Feliciano sniffed.

"Of course, we'll get them to a doctor soon, a nice doctor." She petted Feliciano's hair in a soothing manner. "We're going to escape and we're going to figure all of this out." She looked at Danny as she said this.

Suddenly, both Danny and Elizaveta stiffened and strained their ears, both silently praying that it had been a trick of their minds. They heard the sounds of barking, swiftly approaching, followed by the calls of people running after them. In the cave they were sitting ducks. Then, all noise stopped except for stray menacing growls. They were right outside the caves entrance.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! _Danny berated himself. _Why didn't I think of making us go further into the cave? Here we are, sitting in the entrance of the cave, just waiting for them to riddle us with bullets! Dammit, I'm so stupid!_ Feliciano let out a cry of fear and attempted to move further back into the cave but the dogs menacing growls left him frozen.

"Please don't hurt us! Please please please! We are not fighting, see? Just don't HURT US!" Feliciano wailed, much to Danny's disgust. One of the men smiled at the pathetic display and readied his gun to shoot while Feliciano's sobs crew louder.

The man shot his gun straight at Feliciano at the same moment that someone ran into the clearing with the cave, screaming "FELICIANO!"

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><p><strong>So, what do you think? I think this is one of my favorite chapters to write and I hope it answers a few questions while raising more in its place. How many of you know who the people talking in the beginning are? It's not like I tried to hide it... XD<br>Happy belated American Thanksgiving to my American readers and happy Friday to the rest of you! I forgot to wish my Canadian readers 'Happy Thanksgiving' last month, whoops, forgive me for that.  
>I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, promise! <strong>

**Also, my birthday is coming up on December 7th...why am I telling you this...oh, no reason...**

**Please review, they really make my day! Now excuse me as I go reply to all of the messages that have been piling up since I haven't been on it a while...XD**


	16. The Clearing of Many Paths

**A/N:**** Finally, we get to find out what Sweden's desicion is. I think I've kept you waiting long enough, right?**

**Disclaimer:**** If I owned hetalia, the pairing Andrew HussyXHimaruya would not exist, it would be Andrew HussieXSomethingInTheDark, which, you've got to admit, is even weirder than the previously stated pairing. Ahh, the beauty of Homestuck and Hetalia, neither of which will ever belong to me.**

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><p>Alfred took a step back when Tino suddenly reached out and snatched Alfred's glasses away from him, breaking them and throwing them into the undergrowth.<p>

"Stop." an unfamiliar voice finally said. Alfred glanced at Tino's companion, the man called whose name he did not yet know. It was he who had spoken. Alfred cursed his poor eyesight for he was unable to make out the man's facial expression.

"What?" Tino asked, looking at him. The man reached into his pocket and took out a gun, tossing it onto the ground. He also tossed a pair of handcuffs and a few small boxes onto the forest floor.

"I don't want to bring him back. I don't want to be here."

"But Berwald! We were ordered-"

"I don't want to accept another person's orders. We are not any different from them, so I will run too. That is my choice." Berwald said. Alfred smiled at him. Berwald wasn't as scary as he appeared to be, just like Ivan! That led to darker thoughts. How did these two come to exist? Were they really built up of the DNA of the gathered 'failed' experiments? If so, how could they be this old?

"Then I will go with you." Tino said, smiling at Berwald. So it seems that he didn't want to do this either. Alfred studied the closeness between the two and wondered if people who were not born, as he suspected that they weren't, could feel love for others. What a thought!

"That's great guys. So you wanna help me find Arthur? I'm kind of getting worried about him, being alone in the woods at night and all." Alfred said. Tino smiled at him and nodded, and together the trio walked in the direction that Arthur had ran, a horrible feeling of dread settling in Alfred's stomach.

After a few minutes of walking in awkward silence, Tino pointed at the ground. "Look! It appears that someone had fallen there." he said, pointing out indentations in the dirt. Alfred had to kneel down to be able to see, but sure enough he could make out a place where someone had fallen. He looked around nervously but sighed in relief when he saw no blood anywhere.

"Arthur must have fallen. Come, on let's keep going."

As they walked, Alfred tried to keep a conversation going but it was hard when the two men he talked to hardly knew anything about themselves. He sighed and decided that he was going to show them colors and music and stuff like that when they were out of this mess and it would go from there. These men would develop their personalities and Alfred planned to help them every step of the way. If anyone asked, he could say that they were foreigners, problem solved.

Plus, if he was America, it would be pretty easy to get them a little house in a nice town or something… Alfred shook his head in an attempt to shake the thought away. He wasn't a country, it wasn't possible. He was going insane.

Alfred turned his head away from Tino, to whom he was explaining 'love' and froze. Ahead of them, in a clearing, sat three men who appeared to be dressed just like Tino and Berwald. They each had a gun out and pointed into a tree where sat the vague outlines of Francis, Gilbert, and Matthew.

"We have to help them!" Alfred exclaimed, looking at his two companions. Berwald gave a small nod and pushed past Alfred into the clearing.

"Stop." he said in a calm voice that seemed to carry through the entire forest. The trio under the tree turned to look at him.

"Hey Berwald! Why'd you tell us to stop?" the tallest one asked with an easy smile that quickly disappeared when Alfred and Tino stumbled out of the trees. "So you caught one?"

"We didn't catch anyone, put the guns down and let them…get out of the tree?" the last part came out uncertainly from Tino's mouth, almost like a question, as he explored the feeling that the helplessness of the three men in the tree evoked within him.

"What'chu mean? Magnus? Erik? Do you guys know what he is talking about?"

"Can we just get this over with already?" the one with white hair asked impatiently.

"See? They don't know. Our orders didn't change. Dead or alive, right? Well, I know that I'm not climbing into the tree, so unless they climb down themselves I'm taking them back dead."

"That's bullshit, just bullshit, man. You can make your own choices. Why are you so damn trigger happy? Why are you following those stupid orders anyway? Don't you want to do more than be a weapon and lab rat?" Alfred snapped at him.

"Berwald and I've chosen not to follow our orders and go live free. Alfred promised to teach us sports and show us music so we can have fun. Don't you want to have fun? Let's stop this and go with them, escape with them." Tino insisted.

"Why would we do that? I'd say we have a pretty good deal here, right guys?" the tall one said. The shorter one with blonde hair stood up then.

"I don't want to do this. I don't want to follow orders. I'm going with them." he said.

"What? You can't do this to me, Magnus! No!" the other replied.

"Let's go." Magnus said, looking down at the white haired one. He shrugged and stood as well, rejecting Magnus's hand. They walked over to where Alfred, Tino, and Berwald stood.

"Five to one. Pick a side, Matthias." Berwald said. Matthias looked at all five of them before hissing something under his breath. He stood up slowly, gun trained on Alfred.

"They're not gonna like it when they hear this. I'll let you go this time, but next time I see you, you're all dead. Especially you," he nodded at Alfred. Then he turned and ran from the clearing.

"Wait, what? What just happened?" Alfred asked, looking around. He was suddenly embraced by Matthew, who had jumped out of the tree and ran at him the moment Matthias had left.

"Alfred! It's so good to see you!" Matthew said.

"Good to see you too, bro. So, who's idea was it to hide in a tree?"

"Gilbert's. I _told _you it was a bad idea!" Matthew turned around to yell at Gilbert, who was carrying Francis.

"I know, I know. Whatever, we're still alive, right?"

"We wouldn't be if they hadn't shown up! What's going on, anyway?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. Ask them." Alfred gestured at the four who stood off to the side, watching the reunion curiously.

"FELICIANO!"

Everyone in the clearing stiffened, looking at each other with wide eyes. "This way, guys!" Alfred shouted running back into the forest in the direction of the scream. Berwald appeared at Gilbert's shoulder and took Francis from him and they ran after Alfred.

Alfred ducked under branches and jumped over roots as he ran; his heart pounding. He didn't know how he was doing it with his limited sight, but he was managing. Twigs and leaves scratched at his face and he was sure that he was bleeding, but all that mattered was getting to where the others were. He heard the footsteps of his companions behind him and he felt safe for the first time in a while.

He stopped when he heard dogs.

"Shit, this is bad." he said.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Matthew asked.

"Obviously, we charge." Alfred replied.

"What? You're kidding me, right? We don't just _charge_!" Gilbert snapped.

"Fine then, don't charge. I'll just go on my own." Alfred hissed back. He turned on his heal and walked through the brush into hell.

"Al!" Matthew cried, but it was already too late.

"ALFRED!" someone yelled as the scene before him flew apart. The men started shooting into a cave as their dogs begged to be released from their leashes. Screams and shouts filled the air. Every weapon was pointed at the group of people in front of a large cave. Several men in black suits wielded guns and were shooting frantically at the soldiers, regardless of how little of them there were. Only four of the ones not in suits had a gun while others held chunks of metal and long branches to keep the dogs back. They were holding their own.

Alfred prepared to push through the crowd, to force his way even while risking his life when a sharp voice called out over the crowd. "Stop this at once!" The effect was instantaneous. Everyone on both sides stopped and watched a man in a starched lab coat stride into the middle of the bloodbath.

"Dad." Alfred hissed, narrowing his eyes.

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><p><strong>So, what did you, my lovely readers, think? I'm rather fond of the chapter. Now, here is some news:<strong>

**1. My birthday is on December 7th (it's almost here!). And you guys know what I really want? 250 reviews would be nice, maybe if someone dedicated a one-shot to me, fanart would be nice too. :3 But you don't need to do that, I just hope you guys like my fic!**

**2. I am starting another new project besides "To Love a Rose is to Love it's Thorns", it will be a DenNor that I have finally wriggled out of Westphalia's neglecting grasp, the new name hasn't been decided yet but expect the first two chapters to be out soon. And feel free to read the FrUK mentioned in this point, it was the best pairing to use for the plot I wanted. And, uhhh, I don't remember.**

**3. As a result of my new profect, I'm putting my P-Russia on hold until Christmas Holidays because it is a partner story and I haven't worked with my co-author since the first chapter and it wouldn't be fair to her to work on it without her, but we go to different schools and it is hard, but we will work extra hard during holidays and get some nice chapters out for you.**

**That's about it! See you next time!**

**EDIT: HEH HEH, I forgot that Alfred got his glasses back before, so I fixed it!**


	17. The Meaning of Eternity

**Hey everyone! It is me. I am back. Consider this chapter my Christmas fic, okay? Cuz I don't have enough time to write a one-shot right now and this one features Christmas (read on to understand). Sorry for my absense and thanks for helping me reach 250 reviews for my birthday! You guys are the best!**

**Anyway, I think that from now on I will ask a question and who ever gets it write will get a one-shot from me sometime in the new year! This will keep me writing for sure! So, this posts question is: 'Arisen Anew', 'Trollcops', 'BL1ND JUST1C3 : 1NVEST1G4T1ON !', and 'She's a Sp8der' are songs from which popular online _thing _and what is the album that they are on called?**

**DISCLAIMER: I TOTALLY DO NOT OWN THIS NOR DO I OWN THE SONGS REFERENCED ABOVE!**

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><p>The man turned to look at Alfred. "You just couldn't mind your own business and stay out of trouble; could you?"<p>

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alfred snapped. Everyone seemed to fade away, leaving the impression that Alfred and his father were alone in a sea of black. "My friends-"

"Your friends? How long have you known these people? Two days? Three? Regardless, can you really call these _strangers_ your friends? Can you really believe their lies and get hurt for these people? Look at you, dirty and hurt and where are your glasses, young man? You are only ruining your eyesight further, running around like that! Why, if your mother saw you now she wouldn't let you into the house!"

"Who are you to reprimand me out here, old man? In the midst of a _battle_!"

"Look at you; you are becoming mad like the rest of them. Fancy yourself a country now, boy? Speaking as if you are in a war. How do you know any of this is real? This! What do you think this is?" he took one of the guns from a man standing nearby.

Alfred squinted at it. "It's a gun."

"A _gun_! Nonsense. Any moron with two eyes can see that it is tazer; they are just trying to bring you back carefully. See? It's only been a few days and, thanks to these people, you are already going mad! And to think I thought there was a chance of saving you, of sending you home! But no, you are a country now, right? Which one? Brazil? Italy? Egypt? Probably one that has been to war if you think that this is a weapon."

Alfred looked around and the world flew back to him. The soldiers still stood, watching the exchange with no expression on their faces. Alfred turned to see the group behind him, squinting to make out their expressions. He registered their expressions of horror seconds before he felt a sharp pain and fell forward, the world dissolving into white noise and blackness.

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><p>He knew he was dreaming. He could tell because he was seeing himself, leaving Kiku's room with Matthew and Ivan. He watched Tony disappear in a green beam before following them into the room they had been called to and watched the group immediately become wary of the soldiers in the room that were wielding weapons. Soon two doctors entered, with Danny and Toris walking in between them.<p>

"Danny." Kiku said, looking as confused as everyone else, but Danny refused to meet his eyes, to meet anyone's eyes, actually. He looked down at the floor.

"Guys," Alfred said slowly. "This seems bad."

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.

"Everyone, this is Toris, he is the newest member of this group. Now, excuse me, Kiku. We need you to come with us right now." one of the doctors said.

"What? Oh fuck no." Alfred said.

"Alfred! What has gotten into you?" Arthur snapped.

"Just trust me, okay? This isn't good. Don't go with them, Kiku."

"Hurry up, Mr. Honda." the man said, ignoring Alfred.

"No!" Alfred stepped forward.

"What are you doing? You idiot!" Arthur yelled.

"I'm sorry to say that you were warned, Mr. Jones."

"Goddamn it! No! You'll have to take him by force!"

"Alfred! Calm down!" Matthew begged.

"Very well then." the doctor said, motioning to the soldiers. They stepped forward and grabbed Kiku, who turned to look at Alfred, fear evident in his eyes and silently asking for help. Alfred grabbed a lamp and ran at the soldiers, who dropped Kiku and started shooting at him. Somehow, amazingly, they didn't hit him as he ducked behind a chair but one hit Kiku as he was crawling away. Danny picked him up and ran to the window, smashing it with his foot and jumping out as carefully as he could. Others tried to follow his example and the first Alfred, the one who was actually part of the scene, started crawling closer to it.

Ludwig grabbed Feliciano and ran out quickly to follow Danny and Kiku, Elizaveta sprinting after them. Francis was halfway out the window when he was shot and both Alfreds watched in horror as he fell. Gilbert jumped after him and he heard him run. Ivan smashed a chair on top of the two doctors, knocking them out, and ran away with Yao and Matthew. Arthur leaped from the window and Alfred was about to when he heard more people enter the room. He turned back and saw Toris cowering against the wall a little ways away, terrified, and five blonde strangers, who the second Alfred recognized as Tino, Berwald, Magnus, Erik, and Matthias. The first Alfred ran back and grabbed Toris before following the rest.

The scene changed and for a moment Alfred thought that he was awake. That was until he noticed that he was sitting on a bench in a park that he didn't recognized, completely unhurt. Sunlight streamed gently through the leaves, breaking the shadows cast by the large maple Alfred sat under.

"How did I know that you would be here?" a familiar voice said. Alfred looked up to see Arthur walk towards him.

"Hey Iggy." Alfred said, smiling brightly.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"I dunno, a bunch? But that doesn't matter. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to find out who is the reason behind all of the complaints that I've been receiving about some strange American babbling about burgers and imaginary aliens in my favorite park."

"Man, we've been over this, Tony is real. You are just too stubborn. And I've been minding my own business today!"

"For the first time in history."

"Oh ha ha. Anyway, I was hoping I'd see you today!"

"And why is that? I'm quite busy, you know." Arthur sniffed.

"I don't know. I just missed you. Is that so bad?" Alfred tilted his head a little to the right.

"Yes! Yes it is. There is a time and a place for social calls and this is not one of them!"

"Ahhh, come on. You aren't that busy! Let's do something special today." Alfred said, showing his best puppy eyes.

Arthur blushed and turned around, saying "Absolutely not!" over his shoulder. Alfred stood up and walked forward, wrapping his arms around Arthur's waist.

"Please, England." Alfred whispered.

"FINE." Arthur brushed Alfred off and started walking, "but only if you keep up". Alfred smiled and watched Arthur walk before sprinting after him.

They spent the day exploring. They entered little shops and stopped in a cozy coffee shop that doubled as a small restaurant in the evening for dinner, a compromise they reached when Alfred had wanted to go out for burgers and Arthur had wanted to go home and cook. It was dark when they finally reached Arthur's house.

"I take it that you are staying for the night?" Arthur asked when they both entered his house.

"Yep!" Alfred said happily, throwing his jacket onto the back of Arthur's couch. Arthur glared at him then sighed and grabbed Alfred's jacket, walking back into the entry hall and hanging it up. He didn't know that Alfred had followed him until he was suddenly pressed against the wall.

"I've missed you." Alfred said.

"You have already told me that," Arthur said, trying to ignore the blush on his face.

"Kiss me?" Alfred asked. Arthur sighed and shook his head, not declining just shaking his head at Alfred's foolishness, then leaned forward and pressed his lips against Alfred's-

The scene changed again. Alfred sat on a comfortably worn couch next to Ivan, Yao, and Kiku. Arthur, much to his disgust, shared a loveseat with Francis. A Christmas tree stood in the corner, presents piled under it. Matthew and Gilbert walked into the room, carrying hot chocolate.

"I'm glad you all came." Matthew said, giving everyone a mug.

"Thank you for inviting us, Canada." Kiku said.

"This is a great Christmas party." Alfred said, smiling at his brother.

"Dinner will be ready soon." Matthew said.

"You should have asked me to help cook." Francis said.

"I didn't wish to bother anyone." Matthew replied. Soon they all moved to Matthew's dining room and had a delicious dinner and slowly everyone drifted off to the guest bedrooms prepared for them. The house grew dark except for the Christmas decorations and all was silent when Alfred crept back to the living room with a final gift he had forgotten to put there. He was surprised to find Arthur there, also placing something under the tree.

"Oh, Alfred!" Arthur exclaimed when he turned and saw him standing there.

"Sorry for startling you." Alfred said, holding up his forgotten gift with a sheepish smile. "But it's good that I've caught you. It's been Christmas for about half an hour now and I did want to give this to you in private…"

"For me?" Arthur asked.

"Yep! Here." Alfred handed the gift to Arthur. It was shaped like a small box. "You can open it now."

Arthur looked at the poorly wrapped gift and smiled fondly before unwrapping it carefully. He opened the box the gift was in and pulled out a soft green scarf. He started laughing.

"What?" Alfred asked, startled. "I'm sorry! Don't laugh! I really thought that you would like it! I can bring it back if you want." He looked away, hurt.

"It's not that. Here." Arthur handed Alfred a gift from under the tree. Alfred opened it cautiously and pulled out a dark blue scarf. "We got each other the same thing." Alfred smiled at Arthur before pulling him into his arms. Arthur stood awkwardly for a few seconds before returning the hug.

"I love you, England." Alfred said.

"I love you too, Alfred."

The scene melted again, but this time Alfred was left in blackness. He felt himself falling and flailed his arms, trying to catch himself. He landed on hard, cold ground and entered a third memory.

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><p><strong>I hope you liked!<strong>

**Anyway, where are my Homestuckers at? Cuz I am so homestuck it isn't even funny. I just wanted to know if any of my readers are homestucks (in that case message me, let's talk pairings) and/or are planning on going to Sakuracon in Seattle in March. If you are, I am going to be part of a Homestuck Murder Mystery panel on that Saturday and would love to see you!**

**Ehem, reviews are LOVE so please review. I'd love to hear from you!**


	18. Waking Up Insane

**A/N: So sorry for the long wait! This chapter is short but I do hope you find it interesting. I'm currently changing fandoms but I promised that I would see this fic to the end and I will! **

**Info about my new fandom as I anxiously try to gain readers below!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.  
>Also, a huge thank you to you guys for being so patient with me and reviewing. I love your reviews even though I don't have the time to reply to all of them anymore. All are read and appreciated. C:<strong>

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><p>"How could you do that?" a familiar voice that had once held so much warmth now shouted at him, cold and emotionless. Alfred opened his eyes to see that he was outside somewhere, probably in a park, there were some trees around them but mostly bushes and grass. The sky was dark, as though a storm was coming. "You let them die!"<p>

"I had to do it! What else could I have done?" Alfred found himself saying. What was he saying? How could he say something like this? "Do you want me to go back to playing hero? To go back to being so naïve and stupid to believe that I could actually save everyone?"

"You've changed so much since…" Arthur began, but cut himself off.

"No, go ahead, say it. Or do you want me to say it for you?" Alfred said angrily but Arthur did nothing, only watched him in a way that left his chest aching, watched him as if he was a dangerous stranger. "Since I found my brother's mangled body. Since his house burned down. Since everyone started to fucking die and all that is left is just a hand full of us! I'm sorry if you think that it is unreasonable for me to change given the circumstances."

"That doesn't mean that you should have left them all there! You knew that this was going to happen yet you still left them all there! You idiot! You stupid fucking idiot! You could have done something. You could have bloody saved them!"

"We're already dead, Arthur." Alfred whispered.

"What?" Arthur demanded. At that moment, four people entered the clearing. They were dressed in black from the head down. None of them had any notable features. They were all armed, their guns pointed at the two countries.

"Thank you ever so much for that introduction, Mr. America." one of the men said. Alfred just glared at him.

"What is he talking about?" Arthur demanded. Rain began to fall from the heavy clouds.

"I'm sorry." Alfred didn't meet Arthur's eyes; he just stared at the ground.

"Alfred, what the hell is he talking about?" Arthur yelled at him as if it were only the two of them. "I swear to God, America, if you don't tell me right now-"

"Shut up." Alfred said finally. "Just shut up. Please." He finally looked up to meet Arthur's face and there was so much hopelessness, so much pain, and so much sadness that Arthur couldn't finish what he was saying.

"As touching as this all is, and really, it is, it's time for us to get our jobs done. You're real lucky, you two. You are the last on our list." the same man who had spoken before said. Alfred assumed that he was their leader. He pointed his gun at Arthur.

"Wait! We had an agreement. You kill me first!" Alfred shouted. He didn't want to see Arthur die. He didn't want that to be the last thing he saw. But the man ignored him and BANG! Arthur fell. It couldn't be real, things didn't work that way. YOU COULDN'T JUST KILL A COUNTRY THAT WAY! But it was there and Alfred ran, tears running down his face, to Arthur. Dead, so very dead. No pulse, no sign of life. His eyes still showed shock, he was still warm. But he was gone. "KILL ME. JUST KILL ME." Alfred yelled at the men, head bent over Arthur, his tears falling onto Arthur's face.

"With pleasure, Mr. Jones." the man said. A gun pressed against his head. A single second of pain and realization. Then, nothing.

Alfred woke up. Tears ran down his face. He looked around. Where was he? He didn't recognize this place. Someone entered the room. A nurse.

"Oh, you are awake." she said. She gave him a warm smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Uhh, confused, actually. Where am I?" Alfred asked.

"Montlake Hospital. You were admitted her a few days ago, Mr. Stevens. It's good to see you awake. I will go tell your doctor."

"Mr. Stevens? What? My name is Alfred! Alfred F. Jones!" he said, confused, but she was already gone.

He moved a bit on the hospital bed, trying to make himself comfortable. What had happened before he was here? His memories were a blur of faces and trees, of running and desperation. Screams and gunfire. No, wait. That was just a dream, right? Just like all of the others. Those people. Matthew, Arthur, Francis, Gilbert. Canada, England, France, Prussia. He'd just created them in his head, right? In his dreams. Everything was a blur. Had he been running around without his glasses? That is a weird thing to happen in a dream but hey, he couldn't really control dreams.

The door opened again and two people entered. Two very familiar people. One was the nurse that had just been there and the other, where had he seen that man before?

"Hello Mr. Stevens, I am Dr. Jones." the man said. Dr. Jones? That was impossible. Dr. Jones was his father and his father would never call him "Mr. Stevens". Who the hell was this Stevens guy anyway? Wait, was that really his father or was it just another chunk of a dream? Maybe he had heard the name while sleeping and incorporated it into his dreams? Was that even possible? Alfred didn't know.

"Uhh, hi. So, why am I here?" Alfred asked.

"So you do not remember? Interesting." Dr. Jones wrote something down then looked back at Alfred. "You suffer from a condition where you believe that you are other people. Only one person at a time. You may here a name be said and assume that it is yours. According to your family, you assign histories to this person that you create and give them each a distinct personality, even one that is the complete opposite of your own. You recently got into an accident because you stopped taking your medicine and went on a rampage of sorts in the institution that you were staying it, believing yourself to be a human form of America."

Oh, well that made sense. That must be why his memories were so blurry and weird. He thought that he was America? Well, that is pretty crazy. But that's what he is, crazy. It didn't really make him feel bad knowing it, it made him understand. His dreams weren't memories; they were the past that he had created for himself as "America". How could one even be a country? That's ridiculous!

Soon after, Dr. Jones left, telling Alfred to get some rest. Alfred agreed with him, he had put too much stress on himself and needed some more sleep. Unfortunately, that was not to be when another person entered the room. The same person that he had just watched die.

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><p><strong>Reviews are very much appreciated. I want to know what you think. Rant about how much you hate Alfred's dad, talk to me about how confused you are. I will read (and join in) and try to clarify. Or just fangirl. Fangirling is always accepted. C:<strong>

**SO, here is where I discuss my newest obsession. HOMESTUCK. It's not really a new obsession but I am getting ready to launch a Superhero!Stuck AU and I want to get some readers for it, if any of you are interested. It has Good!Superhero!John X Evil!Supervillain!Dave. It's based off of Tiger and Bunny (I love that anime so much) but the cast is homestuck (so forgive me for not labelling it as a crossover, not many people read crossovers...). It will also have Villain!Rose x Villain!Kanaya, Ultimate evil!Dirk x Hero!Jake, and a love triangle featuring our favorite substance abusers, Roxy and Gamzee, with Tavros. Gamzee's just such a pimp, you know. Also Sadstuck, because if it's not Sadstuck, it's Badstuck. But, true to the idea of most superheroes, outside of the costume no one knows who they are, so these villains and heroes may be closer than they thought... also, Karkat has the power most coveted by the evil side. Of course. Poor Karkat, you're life is going to get pretty fucked up.**


	19. Just Trust Me

**I apologize for everything, including the crappiness of this chapter. What is being in character? What is a decent story? What is a plot that makes sense? We just don't know.**

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><p>"Who the hell are you?" Alfred demanded, his voice squeaking in his distress.<p>

"Alfred." the stranger simply said, limping forward.

"Stay back! I have no idea who the fuck you are and I am just so confused and holy shit." Alfred started babbling, steadily getting louder.

"Alfred, shut up. You're going to draw attention to us." the stranger hissed.

"Yeah well, maybe I want to get someone to come in here. You're some random weird looking stranger and I just saw you die and holy _crap_, I just saw you _die_! Like, in my head. In a dream…" he trailed off, his heart beating a mile and minute, his breathing ragged.

"What are you talking about? I'm not a stranger! And I most certainly did not die! Don't you remember the base at all? Countries? The alien? Running through the woods? Don't you remember _anything_? It's been two weeks. Do you even understand how hard it was for us to find you? You ungrateful bastard!" the stranger whispered angrily, bring his hands up to his face and rubbing at his temples.

"But that didn't even happen! Dude, I'm really sorry about this but you're, like, a figment of my imagination. Holy shit man but none of that was real. I'm just crazy and I'm crazier for talking to my imaginary friend, or some shit like that, about this. And running through the woods? Why would I ever do that?" Alfred insisted.

"I am real! Alfred, just, come with me. We have cars all around and we can get you out of here. Then I will personally explain everything to you. Clearly."

"I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Alfred, I am not afraid to call Ivan in and have him carry you out."

That brought images of a tall, somewhat scary, young man with purple eyes and a cold smile. His mind seemed to associate him with a friend, but Alfred did not want to be carried out of the hospital, where he wasn't a menace to the people around him. Especially not by something that he was pretty sure his own head had created.

"Hell no. You know what? I don't even care. Fine. I'll go with you. But the second things get fishy or _anybody _gets hurt, I'm out of there. Got it?" Alfred said.

"Good. Now, help me open this window." Alfred got up, embarrassed in his generic pajamas, and helped the stranger open the window. They were on the fourth floor of the hospital, overlooking an almost empty parking lot. There were two black cars with tinted windows close by.

"That's our ride," the stranger said, pointing to the one on the right. "The other has Ivan and Yao in it; they've been inseparable since the events in the woods. Although, you seem confused and uncertain that that ever happened so I will just have to tell you about it all later. Now, grab onto the ledge and climb down." he gestured at several parts of the wall that jutted out of the old building, forming a way down.

"Wait, climb? Do you really expect me to be able to climb down this building?" Alfred demanded.

"Yes! Now go! No complaints!" he pushed Alfred to the window. Alfred shrugged and decided that the worst thing that could happen was him falling and he was already at the hospital so whatever, right? He scrambled onto the windowsill and began to climb down. Once he was a few feet down, he heard the stranger begin to climb too.

It was fairly easy to grab onto the teeny ledge until he was almost all the way down, just ten more feet. Up until then all of the ledges had been around the windows, so he could avoid being seen. However, the last ledge ended just above the window and the path he had been following began again directly under the window. If he were to continue, he would be seen and there was a chance that he wouldn't even get his foot to the other ledge.

"Alfred?" Arthur asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, uhh, yeah man. It's all cool. I've got this."

"Got _what _exactly?" but it was a bit to late because Alfred had already moved his hands down to the top of the window and let one leg, then two, hang free over the window. He reached out with this right foot, trying to find something to rest his foot on. He thought for a second that he had it, he had found it, and relief flooded him and he dropped one hand so he could move again.

His footing slipped.

He was too scared to scream as he dropped. He didn't have time to close his eyes, let alone brace for impact. However, his fall was broken by the feeling of someone catching him. He looked up into Ivan's face.

"Hello Alfred, long time no see, yes?"

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><p><strong>AN: This chapter makes me cringe. I'm sorry. But I owe you guys something, right? Please don't hate be because of my fandom jump.**

**This is also really short. Whoops.**

**Please review. I'd love to hear from you guys (feel free to tell me that I suck for the past four months sdhalksdhfkjahf)!**

**[EDIT] You guys are all precious babbys and I love all of you. **


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